June 9, 2020 Joint Meeting of Mountain View City Council, Shoreline Regional Park Community and Capital Improvements Financing Authority

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Transcript

[00:00:18] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Dated March 17th, 2020. All members of the city council are participating in this meeting by video conference with no physical meeting location. Members of the published public wishing to observe the meeting live, may do so at mountain view.legistar.com on YouTube at mountain view.gov slash YouTube and on Comcast channel 26. As noted on the meeting agenda, members of the public may provide oral public comments during the public comment period for an item by signing up at mountain view.gov slash CC underscore speakers. Any emails received by 5 PM today were forwarded to the city council. Emails received after 5 PM and prior to the close of the public comment period for the agenda item will be read into the record by the city clerk. And any voicemail messages received will be played by the city clerk. Please note, if you provide provide oral comments during the meeting and sent an email after 5, your oral comments will be your single opportunity to comment. All votes will be taken by roll call vote, and now I'd like to ask the city clerk to proceed with roll call, please.

[00:01:24] City Clerk: Council number Clark.

[00:01:25] Councilmember Chris Clark: Here?

[00:01:26] City Clerk: Council member Hicks.

[00:01:28] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Here.

[00:01:29] City Clerk: Council member Mattachek.

[00:01:31] Councilmember Lisa Matichak: Here,

[00:01:31] City Clerk: council member McAllister.

[00:01:33] Councilmember John McAlister: Hi.

[00:01:34] City Clerk: Council member Ramirez.

[00:01:36] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Here.

[00:01:37] City Clerk: May, May, May.

[00:01:39] Vice Mayor Ellen Kamei: Here,

[00:01:39] City Clerk: near Abby Koga.

[00:01:44] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Here. Thank you. So all members are present. And um, before we move on to our presentations, um, I just wanted to make a few comments. I know that we have quite a few members of the public participating with us today. We've received many emails in regards to, um, the incidents that we, uh, this nation has experienced the last uh, few days, several days. And so I just wanted to make a few comments to start us off. And certainly the last several days have been some of the most infuriating, heartbreaking and painful times that many of us have ever experienced in our country. My family and I have been sharing in the sorrow and anger our nation has been expressing in the wake of the tragic death of Mr. George Floyd, Mr. Ahmed Aubrey, Miss Briona Taylor, and countless others, and have stood with our community in solidarity to call out the institutionalized racism that has plagued our country. As an ancient Pacific American woman who spoke out against xenophobia and anti-Asian sentiment due to COVID-19 earlier. This year, I now stand in solidarity in condemning increased violence and racism towards black Americans and all people of color. I support the right to protest and rise up against injustice, dehumanization, and threats against life, and was pleased to join the peaceful protest organized by our young people last Thursday afternoon. I've always been proud of our city of Mountain View for our great appreciation of our diversity and our efforts to ensure that we are a community for all. In fact, our city council has made it a goal to protect the most vulnerable populations, to make not be a place for everyone. Having served on this council for 12 years with the distinction of being the 1st Asian Pacific American woman to serve, I've worked closely with our entire city organization, have had the chance to get to know most of our staff on a personal level, and have been proud of a way out of the way our staff have been committed to providing exemplary services and assistance to all of our residents with respect, compassion, and care. In particular, I appreciate our Mountain View Police Department, and each of its members who protect your community with those same values and work hard to build connections and trust within our community. I appreciate the coordination, the organizers of the peaceful protests, and our police department had in ensuring the safety of the participants, and our police being flexible when the plans changed, in the conversations that took place between protesters and police officers, and for standing in solidarity. I appreciate that the protests on the whole have been peaceful, but did not appreciate the graffiti that ensued after the Friday evening protest. What the last 2 weeks have reaffirmed in me is that we have a lot to be proud of in Mountain View. But we also have a lot more work to do. I appreciate our police chief joining us this evening to respond to the concerns that have been raised. There's always room for improvement on how we conduct our business, and I'm committed to working with our staff in our community to review our policies and procedures, and find those areas where we can improve. I am pleased to announce that I've signed onto the Obama Foundation pledge for mayors to review, engage, report, and reform common sense limits on police use of force. I appreciate that our police department personnel have already begun this effort. In our upcoming budget, our city manager has proposed projects around strategic planning and organizational analysis, and through those processes, I anticipate the opportunity to rethink how we deliver our city services and look at new ways of doing so with equity, diversity, and inclusion in mind. Frankly speaking, the issue at hand goes beyond the Nottingview Police Department, and points to the systemic racism and injustice that has existed since the beginnings of this nation. These tragic deaths of Mr. Floyd and others have occurred in the midst of COVID 19, which has further amplified the racial and ethnic disparities that have disproportionately affected communities of color. To that end, I was placed to sign on to a countywide equity pledge with my colleague, Vice Mayor Kamet, and council member Ramirez, and I will be appointing an ad hoc council subcommittee on race and equity to look at our policies and measure the impacts by race, ethnicity, gender, and sexual orientation. We will look internally and outwardly to identify ways to promote equity throughout our community. Ultimately, however, change will be dependent on each of us taking meaningful action beyond attending protest rallies and signing onto email campaigns. We must take personal responsibility and look within ourselves to check our own implicit biases. We need to learn our own in one another's histories, and the ideology of white supremacy that is historically pitted communities against each other, in order to work towards true cross-racial solidarity. We must acknowledge the pain and trauma of others and speak up when it is uncomfortable. We must collectively accept the need for change and take action to make that change. I'm committed to continuing to pursue policies and actions that root our racism, root out our racism and advance equity. Lead with compassion and take action towards justice for all. I hope all mountain view residents will join me in this commitment. And with that, I would like to now ask our police chief, Max Bozelle, to provide a presentation. On the police department's philosophy values and commitment to the community. Welcome, uh, chief.

[00:07:26] Police Chief Max Bosel: Thank you, Madam Mayor, Vice Mayor, Distinguished Council, and thank you for your invitation to overview the police department's philosophy values and commitment to the community in the wake of the horrific murder of Mr. George Floyd in Minneapolis. and the overwhelming and justifiable outrage to support racial equality and equal justice under law. Something we all share as an ultimate goal. Policing in the United States varies greatly, and many of my European colleagues ask, Why are there so many police departments in this country? And in my opinion, it's because we value local control, local influence, and local responsibility for our community's utmost priority, which is public safety. In Mountain View, our tax dollars invest roughly $565 per resident in this coming year to provide our police services, and the department collectively takes this investment seriously. With an approach and philosophy. that is part of the community we serve. We are not only law enforcement officers, we are peacekeepers, and we are community caretakers. We are role models to our children. We do not have a department exclusive value statement. We share the city's values in our daily work. Your police officers and professional staff handle about 36,000 calls for service a year, and likely 1000s more of casual contacts with the public. And even in a relatively safe community like Mountain View, we are in the heart of an urban area, and we are not immune from societal issues with crime, disorder, and complicated social problems. We respond to and strive to prevent the worst types of criminal conduct, and we have the daunting expectation to prepare for unthinkable tragedies, man-made and natural. Your police department's mission and values exemplify a policing philosophy that extends beyond answering your 911 calls at 3 AM are pulling over a speeder who's endangering our roadways, which I'm often asked by many residents to do more often, actually. Your police department has a long-standing approach to collaboration, outreach, and compassionate policing. Many of these approaches could be models for the recommendations in President Barack Obama's 21st century and policing task force final report, such as our school resources officer program, partnering with our school districts for decades, so much so that last week, while at a demonstration, I was asked again about Officer Bill Crawford, who started our program in the 1970s. Dreams and Futures, which has provided intervention and education for at risk youth. We have generational relationships with participants. Some having gone on to join this police department to serve this community. Mentoring at school, shop with the cop, per school supplies, cops that care, cops and gobblers, programs, and partnership, with the police officers association, the public safety foundation, the schools, and other community organizations and community members, and modeled after effective strategies that build community together, and ultimately holistically prevent crime, delinquency, and criminal offending. And while social services for homeless and behavioral health are a county government responsibility, the police department has joined with other city services to go beyond our mandate, by providing non-enforcement outreach to our vulnerable populations. While we do enforce laws, and even mitigate environmental hazards in some situations. We prioritize active partnering with community-based organizations and the county to direct services to people who are in need. Enforcing the laws, our legislative bodies, or voters enact, is one tool in our toolbox. It is not our exclusive solution. Our values are embedded in our extensive portfolio of crime prevention, outreach workshops for the community, from rape assault, defense training, an executive education seminar for leaders in our community, coffee with a cop, hashtag TKN, national night out. And of course, our extensive online programming and engagement. efforts intended to enhance transparency, recruit diversity, promote constructive dialogue, and build partnerships to keep mountain view safe. Those who have taken the time to get to know us, value our inclusive and collaborative approach. Our values are reflected in our hiring and rigorous selection processes. We recruit and hire for diversity, not just in terms of racial demographics and gender, but officers who are immigrants at prior professional careers, military service, even formerly homeless, and they're in their 20s, 30s, 40s, and 50s. Our officers are likely similar to your family members, your friends, your neighbors, your coworkers. They come from all walks of life. In fact, your officers are more diverse than in any generation of policing, and they have been and continue to be committed to making a better community for all. We value organizational improvement, to accomplish a very complex human endeavor. The department did not start an evaluation of its practices with an outcry following the criminal acts of Minneapolis. We have pursued improvements in policing long before President Obama's policing task force was convened, and we recognize this as a continual process. Part of your department's mission is to secure the trust and support of our community, and the men and women who serve you are open to listening, answering questions, better understanding, and making Mountain View safe for all. We are not perfect. We are human. We make mistakes, and we need to constantly strive to do better. I do apply our values and hold those in the department accountable. In my address to the Human Relations Commission last week. I highlighted correcting mistakes in the of the mind and having no tolerance for mistakes of the heart. Of character and integrity. I have fired officers, I have disciplined officers, and we modified policies and retrain staff as needed. We focus our organizational discipline with an investment in training, de-escalation, fair and impartial policing, complicit bias, reasonable and necessary force options, decision making, the duty to intercede, and crisis intervention as an examples. Our investment in our community's values results in the rare application of force, less than 30 out of 36,000 calls of service, and 1000s of arrests. That's not to say officers don't face situations where force could not have been applied. Officers de-escalate and show great restraint in the face of incredible danger. I have reviewed incidents involving a distraught man shooting a gun in front of officers, suspects brandishing weapons. Just last month, a man wielding a knife after an assault. A suspect violently attacking one of your officers who was attempting to make an arrest after arriving on scene and finding a man savagely beaten and murdered. A suspect who intentionally rammed one of our officers in his car and at considerable speed, attempting to escape an arrest for breaking into a car. causing life changing injuries to the officer who was struck. Your police department has set an officer shot, an officer shot at. None of these incidents, none resulted in deadly force. Officers used only reasonable and necessary force, and thankfully, thankfully, we have not had an officer make the ultimate sacrifice. Just last week, a sprinter group of protesters from an otherwise peaceful demonstration found 6 of your officers and patrol officer uniforms and began taunting them, making veil threats to burn down the police department. They were angry, they were using inexcusable profanity, really riddled actions that were seen as an intent on provoking a reaction of physical force. Your officers de-escalated that incident. They did not use reasonable force. They used no force. And in the midst of rage, anger, and potential provocation, these officers demonstrated the values of restraint and de-escalation with everyone's safety in mind. This is your police department. I can go on. My point, the values your officers emulate practice, and not by my statement, but by actions, demonstrates the use of minimal amount of force that is reasonable and necessary. embodies the escalation, and values human dignity, even at the peril of their own safety. I want to share with you the values of service and dedication your officers are demonstrating in these unprecedented times. Amid a pandemic, an unprecedented pandemic, as they were serving the front line and helping those in need. They found themselves thrust into civil on arrest, unseen in our community. They continue to work their shifts and are handling calls for help from the community, with professionalism and pride. You know, as a child, I have some memories of sadness and confusion, as many in our nation turn their backs on the men and women who served our country in Vietnam. And those memories are resonating with me today. This is a difficult time to be on the front line, to be painted with a broad brush. The men and women in our community who volunteer in a career to protect and serve. And a prolific, prolific negativity bias. Really, uh, in some cases, a hate for all police officers, which is a phobia that I suggest is as unjust and misplaced as other biases. And we as a community and police department, must do a better job of understanding each other. Our values are demonstrated with collaborative policing, being proactive in assessing our 21st century policing task force, final reports recommendation. Embracing community input from a variety of stakeholders on our immigration, law enforcement policy, seeking direction from council on the overarching policy and the adoption of the use of any met and aerial systems, and coming to a better understanding when there is confusion about why policies may or may not require or prohibit certain procedures. We would like to make everyone happy, but I have found that in almost every situation that is impossible. But we value the opportunity to hear, to listen, and to be thoughtful with our community's future. I want to close by thanking the many members of our community who have reached out with thank yous and words of support in these difficult times for our community and our nation. And I am also open to the comments for dialogue about how we can come together as a mountain view community. to secure your trust and support. Your police officers are part of a holistic approach to keeping Mountain View safe. We look forward to working with the city council subcommittee, the human relations commission, subcommittee, and other community stakeholders to ensure we provide quality policing service that keeps mountain view. All of the public, inclusively, and the people who serve them safe. Thank you.

[00:18:42] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you, Chief. Are there any comments or questions from council members? If you can raise your hand in the box, that would be great. And I don't see anyone, so I will. oh, I'm sorry, Counselor McAllister, I just saw your hand go up.

[00:19:02] Councilmember John McAlister: Yeah, I... I applaud the chief, I thank him for his words. Being the old guy on this council that I've lived in Mountain View for 62 years. I raised 2 children here and I have a business in this town. I have a lot of interaction with all parts of the community. And I've never had an issue or anybody come explain to me or talk about having a concern about the Mountain View Police Department and how they're approach the community. When I was 1st elected to the council, there was an incident that happened up in Santa Rosa where an individual was killed because they thought he had a gun. And it very, and it concerned me that there might have been excessive use of force. So I took it upon myself to go out and research and talk to the police department and get a better understanding of how they do what they do. And they were very patient with me. They showed me all the details. They showed me the training, extensive training that they go to. They showed me a live, um, simulator where how to react in certain situations. I have 100% confidence in the chief, this department, the city manager, and the residents of Mountain View, to know that they are getting the best, that we can see around here, I've been fortunate through my actions on the city council to travel to other cities and to talk to other council members. And I have never had an opportunity, and no one has ever said that their department was perfect, but boy, I'll tell you, Mountain View is pretty much there. You have much to be proud of, these individuals. I know specifically that when the chief said vigorous training, that they go through a lot of potential officers that don't quite meet the bar and washed out. And so they move on. So, chief, thank you. Thank you for the, all the, the community support that had come forward. I stand with you and thank you.

[00:21:05] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you, council member. We'll move on to Council member Mattachek.

[00:21:10] Councilmember Lisa Matichak: Thank you. And I agree with everything, council member McAllister just said, thank you, John, for those comments. And thank you very much, Chief, for being here tonight. I know we all appreciate it, as does our community. I've had the great pleasure of getting to know many of the members of our police department. And I can say I have the utmost respect for each and every one of you. I've gone um, on ride alongs. I've gone to coffee with the cops. I've gone with a school resource officer to events. And I feel like I've had the opportunity to see our police department in many, many different situations. And I come away with the conclusion that our police department is a wonderful group of very caring, compassionate professionals. Never once have I doubted anyone on the Mountain View Police Department. You guys are top notch, and our community should feel really good about being part of this city, being protected by this police horse. So thank you very much. Um, as John said, I also have 100% confidence in you and your team, and um, I'm looking forward to working with you, members of our community. Um, as we, Talk with each other, listen to each other and work together to see, um, as with any department, if there are improvements that can be made, that we work together on it. But thank you again for being here tonight and for everything you do for us. I greatly appreciate it.

[00:22:42] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you, council member. We'll go to council number Hicks.

[00:22:48] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Well, 1st I want to say that I know there are a lot of members of the public here tonight and I just feel really sorry that we're meeting in the way we are. I, uh, much preferred all of us being, um, in city hall and seeing each other face to face, um, so that we can really get a sense of what each other. I get a better sense in that way, seeing people face to face, what they're thinking and feeling. So, um, I'm sorry that we're not able to meet that way. And I assume there are a lot of people who are going to make public comments and I, um, urge you to stay engaged and come when we're actually the city's open and we're we're back in city hall again. Um, the 2nd thing I was going to say is that, I have not been able to watch a lot of uh, state and national news lately, but the little I did, I heard Kamala Harris talking about how recent events have inspired her to rethink public safety. Um, and in reading some of the staff reports, the reports that were made available to us tonight. Um, one of the things I read was that, um, as a growing city, we've been looking for, as our population grows, what will need to grow along with the housing that we're building. So, you know, we need to also grow, of course, schools, parks, and staffing, police fire another staffing. And 2 of the reports, uh, I guess the police department was engaged, had engaged a consultant, um, as did the fire department, to look at what how policing might grow and change in the future. And, uh, from the report that I read and, um, I, I certainly am not an expert on it, but the report said that the police were not 100% happy with their consultant, ended also, uh, because of the, the pandemic. They, uh, they, and the changes in the their, the, um, kinds of tasks that they were performing due to the pandemic, they suspended that study. And my thought is that that suspended study along with the kind of desire of many members of the community to take a 2nd look at policing, maybe something that comes together very well. It may be a good time for, as Kamala Harris has been saying lately to take a 2nd look at public safety and see, you know, for example, for mental health calls or our code compliance calls or all sorts of other calls. Maybe we can grow in a different way in the future. So I'm really looking forward to hearing from the community and I'm looking forward to hearing possibly a way of re-examining how we do public safety in the city. Thank you.

[00:25:42] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. Any other council members? With comments or questions? If not, I will open this up for public comment. If you are in the attendee box on Zoom. Uh, please hit the raise hand button at the bottom, or if you're on the phone, you can hit star 9. And uh, let's see, so uh, the numbers, hands are going up. So, I will give everyone a minute and a half . And I'll start with bright. And I, I believe you need to uh, unmute yourself, please. Right? You're, um, you're breaking up. The way to, Wait, no, right? Are you there?

[00:26:45] Bright: Well, yeah. Sorry, can you hear me?

[00:26:49] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: It's, um, breaking up is, Um, I think you can call in, perhaps, and they can bring it back in Q. Can you, um, could you try calling back with your phone and I'll, um, I'll put you back in the queue. I'm gonna go to the next person and then I'll look for you when you call back in, all right? Thank you. We'll go to Jennifer Evelyn. Uh, please, uh, new yourself.

[00:27:26] Jennifer Abelos: Hi, um, my name's Jennifer. Oh, can you hear me now? Hello? You hear me now? Can you hear me now?

[00:27:45] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Yes, we can hear you.

[00:27:46] Jennifer Abelos: Okay, great. Uh, so my name's Jennifer Abelos, and I am with the Mountain View Coalition for Police Reform. I'm also a USD graduate student for the social work program. So, um, 1st off. Thank you for taking the time to listen to me. Um, because this is really important about what I'm going to say. Um, 2nd of all, um, I appreciate you um, opening up about the what you're doing in the police department, but it's not enough. And here's why. Um, Social work needs to be in the police department. Um, not just being in with, not with county just coming in. There are departments all over the country that are doing this and we have evidence of that. And it shows to clinically reduce the level of violence and there is not enough training that a police officer receives that levels the amount of a social worker or a psychologist. And I want to just read some statistics from you. Given that 80% or more of patrol work is comprised of social service related functions, opportunities exist for collaboration between police officers. Social service agencies and social workers, numerous police departments across the country have capitalized on these functions by employing civilian police social workers, to assist police officers with the provision of services. The primary task of police social workers are to provide services to community residents, such as crisis intervention, mediation, and referral. Additional tasks.

[00:29:30] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. Your time is up. Thank you. Thank you. Bright, are you back on? No, not yet. All right, I'll go to Grace Calhoun next. Chris, are you, if you can unmute yourself, please? Grace? Grace?

[00:29:55] Grace Calhoun: Yes, okay. Hey there. Okay.

[00:29:59] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Welcome.

[00:30:00] Grace Calhoun: Thank you. My name is Grace Calhoun. I'm here today to bring the police department portion of this budget to your attention. The 2020, 2021 budget proposal. Includes a 3000 or 344,000, $400 increase to the Mountain View Police Department, with expenses, including upfitting vehicles, purchasing new vehicles, new drones, and of utmost concern, 30 new patrol rifles. Mountain View is largely nonviolent, um, and the most frequent crime is burglary, and so I understand the role that police can play in protecting the public. But I do not need. I do not see why we need 30 more rifles added into the budget. This is a time for communities to consider the role that police have in our society. The Stanford prison experiment, which was run in our very backyard, clearly identifies how anyone can become corrupted by a sense of power. Guns exacerbate this and so does a disproportionate amount of funding. The Mountain VPD already holds a 3rd of the city's budget, and I would like to see this extra. 344,400 in city spending used elsewhere. Please consider other aspects of Mountain View's public safety to spend money on. Our drinking water has 13 containments that exceed the environmental working groups guidelines with some levels over a 100 times the limit. Why aren't we putting more money towards that? I'm urging you to postpone this budget decision until you can appropriately reallocate some of the police department funding. Thank you.

[00:31:22] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. So, um, for those who are in queue, uh, this is on the police chief's presentation, if you are calling or calling in to speak on the police budget, that will be uh, discussed during our item 6.one on the budget. So um, please call back at that point. So this is just on the chief presentation. So we'll go back to Bright.

[00:31:59] Bright: Hi, can you hear me this time?

[00:32:00] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Yes.

[00:32:01] Bright: Great. Okay. So, I would like to start by addressing the fact that, The police chief actually lied a moment ago, he said that, Our police system, no one has suffered police brutality by the hands of the MVPD, but at, um, at the protest, at least 5 people have spoken about police brutality that they suffered at the hands of the Mountain View police department. So, That's very interesting that they would cover this up. And also, The Mountain View Police Department, during the protest, the things they tweeted seemed extremely performative. And none of the, none of the tweets seemed genuine, to genuinely care about the people. And, The, Right now their priority, when being told that the system is wrong, should not be same, making excuses, like, oh, sorry, our job isn't easy. Our job is hard due to COVID right now. And, It's very interesting to see that instead of addressing the points that many black people have brought up about police brutality, they make excuses about their job.

[00:33:31] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. We'll go on to LA Green. Nelly, if you can unmute yourself. Ellie? Are you there, Ellie?

[00:33:44] Ellie Green: Yes, hi, sorry, can you hear me?

[00:33:46] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Yes. Welcome.

[00:33:48] Ellie Green: Um, hello. My name is Ellie Green and I'm with the Mountain View Police Reform Coalition. I just want to address something really quickly. The police department, and as mentioned in the police too, speech, is being overseen, is being reviewed by the police. I don't know about anyone else in this room, but to me that feels a bit questionable. We are asking in a common ask of many protests around here is community-based reform. I want to urge the council to consider implementing a coalition or in, or holding a hearing to which, in which we can discuss issues related to the police department because, The police department should not be the ones reviewing the actions of the police department. The people should be, the community, which they claim to be protecting, and we already have seen, you know, there are cases of police brutality. And others can share those stories. They're not going to come out and say, oh yes, all of my policies are absolutely incorrect. They're more likely to say everything is fine. So, in my opinion, from my point of view, it's appalling that the council has not made steps. To provide people, with the opportunity to speak, to provide the community that they claim to represent, the opportunity to speak on an issue as harsh and as severe as police brutality. It's not an issue that's isolated to everywhere but Mound View. It's an issue that faces that we face and we need to address, and I urge the council to address it in that manner. Thank you.

[00:35:19] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Going on to Frank Tavares. Please unmute yourself.

[00:35:25] Frank Tavares: Hi, thanks so much. Um, I, yeah, I just want to address some of the comments that both the police chief and a lot of the council members were making, um, kind of implying that Mountain View is sort of one of the good police, uh, you know, police departments. And I kind of want to disrupt that narrative. We are seeing incredible amounts of police brutality across the entire country, which I think tells us this is a systemic problem, and it is not a question of individual bad actors. So to me, it almost doesn't really matter if the individual officers here in Mountain View are good or bad or racist or not racist or, you know, they're all a part of the system. They all have guns. You know, we can see in the budget that, uh, you know, the department is trying to bring in more money for for drones and other things. Yeah, I know we're talking about the budget later, but I think that it's really important to acknowledge that what we're here to talk about is what policing means in our communities and rethinking that entire idea. So I don't think it's enough to say, you know, oh, we haven't murdered anyone. So we're fine. Um, you know, I think this is a moment where the entire country is really reflecting on what policing means and what it could look like. So I'm really excited to hear what the council thinks about how we can, you know, use the relative safety of Mountain View as an opportunity, uh, if not a responsibility to actually imagine how we can rethink police and make community policing, uh, and, you know, different kinds of public accountability. So I don't think this narrative of we're a good police department actually solves the issue at all. And I would really uh, encourage everyone to push yourselves in your thinking about how we address this topic. Thank you so much.

[00:36:58] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. Look at a sharing thing. Please unmute yourself.

[00:37:03] Public Speaker: Hi, so, um, I think what I want to speak about is just, uh, falls under 2 main categories of questions for the police chief. One of them is, uh, since you are civil servants who serve the public, how do you suggest that the public who you serve can keep you accountable? And then I guess another category is, um, why would you say that the police needs to operate in so many different contexts? And, um, someone had mentioned this earlier, but you talked a lot about non-enforcement partnerships. Why can't this be done by other people in our community? Why is it important to have cops in schools? How do we redirect? A lot of the calls that you get that you say aren't explicitly for policing. How can we redirect that to other people? How do you deal with police misconduct? Who investigates this and who outside of the police department investigates these issues and has authority in the sphere? What do you do for cops involved in excessive force and what is the process for that? Um, where can we view police union contract negotiations? Do you have an asset forfeiture program or laws and what does that look like? What sort of military exercises are police involved in? So these are a lot of questions. I'm happy to email these to you. I'm very interested in finding the answers to all of you specifically for Mountain View police department, and I haven't seemed to be able to find it, and I would appreciate if that knowledge was made clear to the public. Thank you.

[00:38:26] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. Yes, please email those questions. A lot of those are on our website, but we'd be happy to answer your questions. In writing. There are quite a few I couldn't keep keep track of all of them, so please email them in. Next, I get a Maddie Fort, Maddie Forte or Maddie Forte? Can you...

[00:38:49] Maddie Forte: Hello. Matty Forte. I'm a resident of Mountain View Inconsistent. Sorry about that technical difficulties. So my concerns come down to the 8 can't weight campaign, which is a collection of database policies that are shown to reduce fatalities by police by 72%. We have adopted 2 out of 8 of those policies. The 6 policies we have not adopted are bans on choke holds and single holds requiring de-escalation, requiring exhaust of all our treaties before shooting. Fans on cheatings and moving vehicles, having a use of force continuum and requiring comprehensive reporting. This is a really important way that is data back to reduce potential fatalities with beliefs. And as our police chief stated, we're all human. This is data backed. We should be adopting these as soon as possible to make sure we're holding our police thing accountable. And I'll yield my time. Thank you.

[00:39:47] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: We'll go on to Charlotte Quinn. Please unmute yourself. You should be.

[00:39:54] Charlotte Quinn: Can you hear me?

[00:39:56] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Yes.

[00:39:56] Charlotte Quinn: Hi, I'm a resident of Mountain View. For days on end, sometimes 100s at a time, people have been taken to the streets of Mountain View demanding major changes to public safety and the police department budget. Now's your chance to show you've been listening to people that you care about black lives and you care about confronting the ingrained issues in policing, which Mountain View is not immune to. I want to say training is not anywhere near sufficient. The black man who trained San Jose cops on de-escalation and implicit bias was made by the very cops that he trained, trying to de-escalate their violence. You need to decriminalize nonviolent crimes, especially those which are poverty induced, such as dwelling in vehicles, and trying to meet basic needs. Let's not forget, George Floyd was murdered for trying to get food. Cops should not be how a hungry person is responded to. You need to change fines to be scaled by income. So they actually deter the very wealthy, which we have a lot of, and don't overburden the poor. A ticket shouldn't mean making rent or not eating enough. But people are asking for changes to schools and mental health services, which fall outside of the city council's immediate control. But don't shrug them off, push for these changes at a county level. Commit money to supporting the county level services that make it so a cop isn't who's called out to where someone's experiencing a mental health crisis. Stipulate that mound view money for school districts is contingent on no more cops on campus and more counselors on campus. If you can't figure out how to transition public safety away from policing, then take part police department money and hire people who can. Thank you.

[00:41:25] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: We'll go next to Nietzsche. Mashuala? Sorry if I, but changed your name. Please unmit yourself. You should be on. Here you go.

[00:41:39] Naja Mashuala: Okay. Hi, can you hear me?

[00:41:43] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Yes.

[00:41:44] Naja Mashuala: Okay, great. So, uh, my name is Naja Mashuala. I'm a resident of Mountain View. And as we heard from our police chief earlier, Our police officers have a very difficult job. The driver part is doing so much that to lighten the load, I encourage the chiefs to hire mental health source responders instead of more officers. Also encourage the chiefs to look more closely at the policies on the site, it can't wait.org, and similar data driven policies. To look to reduce potential violence and increased community support for the police department. Chief, you spoke of how people have a bias against police officers. This is a way that you can fix that bias. Thank you.

[00:42:38] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. Go on to Macon Traeley. Please send me yourself. Megan, hi.

[00:42:51] Megan Traeley: Hi, thank you, counsel for taking live comment. I want to thank the police chief for coming out and speaking and starting a conversation. Um, certainly talking about, uh, our relationship to the police is something that can be included in a much longer and bladder conversation. But we are currently in a radical, radical moment where we're finally acknowledging the injustice that has been done for decades and decades and centuries, to people of color, and this is not a sufficient response alone, not even close. Yes, ban a choke hold, but we all know that isn't really that meaningful of a look at things here in Mountain View. So I am imploring the council to actually realize this isn't a moment for headlines and for press releases that say you're doing something. It's for a real, real actual action, and that means listening to the community. And having the community lead, what actually needs to happen here and actually radically reenvisioning how we do things. It's essential um. So I have 30 seconds left and I just want to say that it's important that the community takes the lead. And that means actually stopping and saying that the police are not able to audit themselves. Council 2 white people on council. I might as well. I have that privilege of not having a lot of bad experience with the police, but they are not the ones to speak for the people. There's 1000s of people in the streets saying we need something real. Thank you.

[00:44:20] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. You have Janelle Ken next, if you can unmute yourself, please. Danielle, can you...

[00:44:37] Danielle Cannon: I'm Danielle Cannon. Uh, my husband and I have been uh, teachers here in Mountain View for almost a decade. Um, and now I'm a pastor in Mountain View. My husband grew up here. So we really love this community. Um, We also, uh, the previous speaker talked about, um, the white privilege of not having had any negative, um, interactions with Mountain View police. I've had nothing but good thing, good interactions with the police, but that doesn't. I think, What I'd like to respond to, specifically, um, to the police chief is, uh, 2 things. One, what he spoke about when he said, uh, that the bias against police is the same as the racial bias against black people in America. And I think that that connection was really abhorrent to make. I really appreciated all his other words. I really appreciated the time he took to talk about things. I think that was really unacceptable. Um, and the other thing I want to talk about is, uh, the struggle that the Mountain View Police Department has had in trying to support homelessness and trying to de-escalate, especially in mental health situations. There have been many, many deaths from people in self-harm situations in the Bay Area because police weren't able to fully de-escalate the situation. The way that a professional could. Um, and so I would just ask that the police consider hiring someone, hiring many people who can do that job for them. Thank you.

[00:46:11] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: We'll go to check, device. Please unmute yourself.

[00:46:18] Dr. Reese: Hi there, I'm Dr. Reese. I'm with the Mountain View Coalition for Police Reform. Thank you guys so much for listening to us and taking the time to hear stuff. I wanted to, Encourage the police chief and the entire police department to resist the urge, to get defensive as you hear these comments because we've just started. Um, I found the comparison to Vietnam veterans to be somewhat offensive as a family member and friend of many veterans, and I can email you about all the reasons why. But I also found that bragging that the police didn't use force on teenagers was also making our point for us. No force should be the most common use of force. I don't think you should get props for not using force on people that should be the norm. The point is that our community is speaking up and our community is smart and compassionate. They have shown that time and time again throughout the, throughout the years, and they're all coming through with great ideas. We need more social services. We need the work to come from other people and it needs to come from the community. Not a 3rd party who makes the rules that the police can then change without consulting us. We need to be part of the conversation now and for teenager for more. Also making our point for us. No force should be the most common use of force. I don't think you should... for not using force on people. should be the norm. Thank you.

[00:48:02] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: I'm going to move on to Anna Marie Morales, please. Anna Marie, can you unmute yourself?

[00:48:14] Anna Marie Morales: You guys hear me?

[00:48:15] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Yes, great. welcome.

[00:48:17] Anna Marie Morales: I'd love to start by saying thank you to the mayor for addressing the systemic racial and social injustices that have gone on for far too long, especially for the black community. I am hopeful that real change will happen on a local, federal and worldwide level. But in order to actually have that happen, we have to have the right leaders in place and visibility and accountability for our police department. I was born and raised, and I've lived here in Mountain View for 40 years now. Um, I, you know, I appreciate our police chief's words, but I was part of the peaceful protest, um, in Mountain View on Thursday, where there was a beautiful moment where black fireman passionately addressed the police officer standing guard in front of the police department. All the protesters kneeled, and some of the officers knelt with us solidarity. There was one officer that refused to join us while staring out at us from behind his sunglasses for over 20 minutes. His stance was combative and wearing his baton and all his gear. It was felt by everyone there. I did not feel the de-escalation tactics that are police, chief claims were used. Finally, that officer decided to join us a meal. We peacefully disbanded. I urge him to take a deeper look into his department before he pats himself on the back. Thank you for your words tonight. I really hope you were truly heartfelt and will lead to actual change because these words are not enough. Thank you.

[00:49:44] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. Go next to Sadie Carlson. Please unmute yourself. See. Okay, you should be gone, Sadie.

[00:49:56] Sadie Carlson: Okay, can you hear me now? Go ahead. Can you hear me now?

[00:50:03] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Yes, yeah?

[00:50:04] Sadie Carlson: Okay, cool. Hi, um, my name is Sadie Carlson and I am speaking with the Mountain View coalition for police reform and accountability. I am also speaking as somebody. Who was born in Mountain View, attended Castro Elementary School, Grand Middle School, and Mountain View High School. My freshman year at MBAHS. A close friend of mine, who is Mexican, was receiving on campus counseling to deal with a traumatic event. At one of these meetings, he began to have a panic attack. And the on campus police officer. Came over and threw this slight 15 year old onto the ground, placed his foot on their face, and restrained him with so much force that my friend was left with severe swelling and bruising on his face. My friends never felt safe going to school again. Because every day he had to walk past an officer who had violently assaulted him while he was having a panic attack. We need a community community to audit the MVPD and make sure that the safety and well-being being of our children is actually being protected. Thank you for your time, and I feel the rest of my time. Thank you.

[00:51:15] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: We'll move on to Sebastian. Can you please unmute yourself? Sebastian, welcome.

[00:51:26] Alex Nuñez: Yeah, so this is not Sebastian. I have no idea why the name is called Sebastian, but as you can see from my picture, it's Alex Nunez. Um, I had a whole bunch of stuff I was gonna say, but I just, I, like, holy crap. I, was a little bit gobsmacked when I heard, uh, and and and police chief was out. Actually, you know, think that you are definitely not a, uh, one of the quote unquote bad Apple police chiefs or run a bad Apple police department, but I just do want to highlight what you said, and I'm gonna closely quote, it might be a paraphrase, but what you said is, this is a difficult time to be an officer on the front lines, to be painted with a broad brush and prolific negativity bias. In some cases, a hate for police officers, which is as misplaced and unjust as other biases. It sounds like you're describing what it's like to be black. It sounds like you're describing what it's like to be brown. It sounds like what it's like to be living as a brown person in the city of Mountain View, where we make 21% of the population up, but get arrested at 45% of the rate, or the 2% of black people who live in Mountain View, but get arrested and make up 10% of the entire of the arrest rates. And being white, yeah, 56%, but you only get arrested 31% of the time. Please, just think about that. Consider that because I was just gobsmocked and this is a pretty good time for reflection and seeing how your comments reflect against the entire Mountain View police department. Thank you.

[00:53:04] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. We'll go on to Molly Carlson. Can you unmute yourself please?

[00:53:12] Molly Carlson: Hi, my name is Molly Carlson. you hear me?

[00:53:16] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Yes, please.

[00:53:17] Molly Carlson: I am speaking for the Mountain View Commission for Police Reform and Accountability. I've been a resident of Mountain View for 40 years and a homeowner for 30 years. I appreciate the comments made by Councilman Hicks about diverting calls to social workers and mental health professionals. Currently, our police policies are written for us by Lexapol, a for-profit 3rd party that sells their services to cities all over the country. The policies are written for the benefit of the police, and have loopholes that protect the police from being held accountable. We need community led reform that prioritizes citizens and protects our most vulnerable. Don't wait for a horrific event to put Mountain View front and center on the national news. We need to review and reform where necessary are police policies now. I'm asking for a public hearing to discuss policy reform before June 23rd. This needs to be a community led effort. Thank you. I yield my time.

[00:54:22] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. Alex Brown. Unmute yourself, please.

[00:54:27] Alex Brown: I can. Good evening. Uh, hi, Max. I, I want to say, I have had, I've had good interactions with many officers in the MVPD. Uh, I have Max, you know, uh, Reuben, Wally, uh, Mike. Yeah, no, it's nice. But I acknowledge that I have insane amounts of privilege. I, uh, am white and I, I'm not in a position where I need to, like, go out on the street and try to find a way to live every day. And Anecdotes about a few people having good interactions. Don't negate the harm and stress and pain felt by so many members of our community who don't have good interactions, who are consistently afraid, whose interactions with cops are more, am I am I in danger right now than they are? This person is here to help me. There's no broad brush that we can paint any any set of people with like this. But we definitely can't negate the feelings of so many people and the actual physical harm caused. By saying, oh, I went on a ride along and it was fine. Come on, guys.

[00:55:51] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. Moving on to Dana Pete? P E D E. You can unmute yourself, please.

[00:55:59] Dana Petey: Hi, can you hear me?

[00:56:00] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Yes, welcome.

[00:56:01] Dana Petey: Hi. My name is Dana Petey, and I'm a resident of Mountain View. I'm also a member of the Mountain View coalition for police reform and a teacher at a public middle school. And I have to say, it honestly concerns me to hear tonight that the Mountain View community leaders have never heard of a single account of discrimination or bias by MVPD because I have learned of dozens of such accounts since I moved here from Sunnyvale one year ago. Ignorance is not an excuse. It conveys to the marginalized communities of Mountain View that you are not listening. The volume of public comment here tonight clearly shows that we need a separate community hearing on the topic of police reform before June 23rd, as well as the establishment of a community led commission to review police department policy. It should be common sense that a police department should not be allowed to define policies and accountability for themselves. As Molly Carlson mentioned earlier, MVPD's current policies were written by a for-profit company called Lexipol, and these same policies are already in place in cities across the nation. These policies have significant loopholes that have already been exploited by police officers in other cities where they have been adopted. We cannot wait until it happens here. It is unacceptable to allow a police department to make its own policy determinations without community oversight. Accountability to themselves is no accountability at all. If the MVPD is to be trusted by the community it serves, particularly by people of color, who have experienced bias and discrimination from MVPD, this council must establish an open community led commission and an independent hearing before June 23rd. Thank you for your time.

[00:57:31] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. Go on to Celine. There, nerd, guard, Denver sheet. Uh-oh, and I just lost two. Let's see. Um, Okay, there you are, Celine. Could you unmute yourself, please?

[00:57:53] Celine: Hi. Yeah, I'm Steve. And a Mountain View resident. Um, I get that being a public servant is a difficult and largely thankless job and I thank the council and the chief, uh, for working towards the public good. Um, I appreciate the changes the department, the police department made after Ferguson, and I believe the chief is committed to service, communication, accountability. Um, I would just like to suggest that apartment make public any discipline that's taken after police misconduct. Um, so, for instance, uh, you know, I heard about a 2019 incident where officers, Poyer, uh, Modemura, and Rogers, uh, traumatized a five-year-old girl by subjecting her to an unwanted, unnecessary sexual examination, um, these, uh, uh, this action led to a lawsuit, um, ended in a $350,000 settlement, uh, that the city owed and the county owed even more. Um, I'm not able to find online what happened to these officers. Um, I heard the police chief say that when, you know, someone has, um, something wrong in their heart. He'll fire them or help them if they have something wrong in their head, but I have no idea what happened to these officers or even if they're still on the payroll. Um, so I appreciate the work the chief has done. Um, I think it would be a small amount of efforts to make this information publicly available. Um, after, uh, misconduct has occurred. And I think it would also build more trust with the people who are now more engaged with the local community. So thank you.

[00:59:24] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. We'll go to Eva Tang. Please unmute yourself.

[00:59:31] Eva Tang: Hi, can you hear me?

[00:59:33] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Yes, thank you.

[00:59:34] Eva Tang: Okay. My name's Eva Tang. I am a 3 year resident of Mountain View. I have grown up in the Bay Area my whole life. I'm also speaking with the Mountain View Coalition for South or sorry, Mountain View Coalition for Police Reform. Um, I want to address comments from the council members earlier. Um, you've said you have an encountered anyone who's had any problems with the police. Then you have not had issues with the police yourself. You've got to you've got to acknowledge that you are white. And I need you to acknowledge more members of the community, um, that are black and Hispanic, and, um, have had more issues with MVPD. Statistics show that MVPD contacts with black people are about twice the amount of black residents living in Mountain View. It's not enough to wash our hands with this and say that this is a larger problem than mountain view and say that it's systemic racism. We need to start with the system in Mountain View. And, um, Revise the system that is in Mountain View. It's also not enough to say that our racial statistics are on par with other police departments, we need to do better than what is on par. And also chief, with all due respect, being judged for being a police officer is nothing like being murdered for being black. You can take that uniform off when you get home. Black people cannot take their skin off. Thank you. I yield my time.

[01:00:55] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. We'll move on to max. And mute yourself, please, Max. You should be on, Max.

[01:01:06] Max Joyner: Okay, can you hear me?

[01:01:07] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Yes, welcome.

[01:01:08] Max Joyner: Hey, everyone, my name is Max Joyner. I'm not a resident of Mountain View, but I live right across the border in Sunnyvale, and I work in Mountain View. Um, but I feel a lot of the other things that people are saying, but, um, I appreciate that the police chief, um, is at least aware of the unprecedented moment in American history that's going on right now, but, um, I don't think it's enough to kind of pat yourself in the backs and say like, oh, we aren't one of the bad police departments. for one of the good ones. Um, this is definitely something that's very systemic and um, intrinsic to American pleasing in general. And one of the things that really stuck out to me was this talk when we was talking about all the different things, the myriad things that the police did for the community. And in doing that, he can prove that how much we've relied on the police to act as social service workers instead of handling violent situations like they should. I feel like, uh, when you only have a hammer, then uh, every problem starts to look like a nail. And if we really keep having police act as the front line of our social service work and handling mental health issues, then I think you're kind of, even if you do have training and de-escalation tactics. I feel like sending armed officers to handle things like mental health crises or homelessness or drug use, um, as intrinsically going to escalate the situation, no matter how much extra retraining you do. So I think we really need to look at reinvesting in social services and reducing the police budget in turn. Thank you. yield my time.

[01:02:37] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. Next, Kelsey. Joe, son. You can unmute yourself, Kelsey.

[01:02:45] Kelsey Justin: Great job saying my name. I'm Kelsey Justin with the Mountain View coalition for police reform and accountability. I've lived in Mountain View for a couple of years. First, I want to back up the calls for attending to the reform suggested by 8 can't wait. This is Silicon Valley. We love data, and this is a data-driven set of reforms. That's pretty simple and no brainer. So, guys, start there. Second, after listening to the chief. It really sounds like he broadly shares the values of those of us suggesting reform, which should make it really easy to accept a community oversight that we've all been suggesting. No one can objectively analyze their own behavior. So, we need community oversight for police policies. To make them reflect what we support rather than outside groups. And since what the city and police have said are their goals. Line up clearly what we all want. Unbiased, safe, and fair policing, it supports our community rather than criminalizing the lives of its most vulnerable members. This should be an obvious reform to which nobody objects. Words are not enough. So let's put some actions behind them. Thank you. I yield my time.

[01:03:52] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Um, Anna, your next, Anna, please unmute yourself.

[01:04:01] Anna Ziger: Hello, my name is Anna Ziger. I'm a Mountain View High School rising junior and I'm with the Mountain View coalition for police reform and accountability. Thank you for taking the time to listen to us. Everyone here today is part of a community, the mountain view community, and we all want the best for it. The coalition calls for action in service of the community as follows, a separate hearing before June 23rd about police reform and accountability, to establish a community led visioning process, to audit our current policing policies and accountability standards and implement new or modified policies. The city of Mountain View has a chance to lead to not wait for something atrocious to happen before taking action. Chief Bozel said in his presentation that his European colleagues ask why there are so many police departments in the US. He said he thinks this is due to a value of local control, but in actuality, the Moundview Police Department policies are currently set by Lexible, a for-profit company that the police department pays to download PDFs of policy. And department serving the community should be held accountable by the community. Thus, a community commission must be formed. Chief Bozal said today that the police department and the council are open to listening and we are asking for a hearing. Those 2 things line up. These 2 actions, an open hearing before June 23rd about police reform and accountability, to establish an independent and fully open commission that reviews the policies of the Mountain View Police Department, serve to maximize accountability and address systemic racism and inequities from which Mountain View is not exempt. Thank you.

[01:05:36] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: We'll go on to Connor. Please unmute yourself.

[01:05:41] Conor McBrien: Thanks. Uh, Conor McBrien. I am a mountain Jew resident, and I wasn't originally planning to comment on this item, but I was really taken aback when the police chief brought up the fact that his officers didn't respond with violence to verbal provocations from protesters. Being able to handle that situation without balances, honestly, the bare minimum that we should be able to expect from our police and it really shouldn't have been working up at all as an example of showing a lot of restraint. It worries me, honestly, that that made sense to list in the same breath as incidents where officers were responding to actual violence. And I hope the council agrees that using balance in response to uncivil, but non-violent protesters shouldn't even be crossing anyone's mind. Thank you.

[01:06:23] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: You can, next is a non-Tatiangotti?

[01:06:27] Unknown Speaker: Sorry. You mispronounced it.

[01:06:32] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: To unmute yourself anon. Anan, are you? Are you there or not? No, I just, I think I lost anon. If you come back, I will look for you. We'll go to Caitlin Neiman. Please unmute yourself.

[01:06:57] Caitlin Neiman: Um, hi good evening. My name is Caitlin Iman, and I'm an organizer with showing up for racial justice at Sacred Heart Community Service, and I live in work in Mountain View. Um, what I heard from council members in McAllister and Mattachek is that because they went on ride alongs with the police, they saw the police on their best behavior, and I'm curious to know if they've ever had any discussions with people who have made personnel complaints against the police officers, particularly from Latinex, Black, and other minorities who live and work in Mountain View, I suspect that their perspectives might be a little different. Um, and 2 the police chief Bozal. I am particularly disturbed by your comment that biased against police is the same bias against other minority groups. People can choose to be police officers, but people don't get to choose the color of their skin. That's a false equivalence, and I'd be happy to meet with you to talk about how this country has developed a racial case system and the role of the police in enforcing the culture of white supremacy, which you might find illuminating. I yield my time.

[01:07:55] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Um, Maura, please unmute yourself. here next.

[01:08:00] Maura Wilson: Hello, can you hear me?

[01:08:01] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Yes. Welcome.

[01:08:02] Maura Wilson: Great. Hello, my name is Maura Wilson, and I'm a resident of Mountain View as well as an organizer with showing up for racial justice at Sacred Heart. According to MVPD reports in Mountain View. You are 9.2 times more likely to be arrested if you are black. Mountain View police also fail to solve 40% of violent crimes, and 90% of property crimes in 2018. I think it's important to acknowledge those numbers and the privilege the council members have when talking about having the utmost faith in the police force. Many citizens have lessened the utmost faith in the police force. Many more have none at all, even here in mountain view. Please look into other forms of community care instead of reinforcing the idea that it is impossible to exist without the law enforcement system as we have it today. Also, as a queer and trans person. I take great offense at the police chief suggesting that the police experience as much prejudice and impression as other marginalized groups. Not only do the police in the United States experience an immense amount of privilege, but they also have a position that they have chosen. If they are judged, it is because they participate in a problematic system that has proven to fail the most vulnerable time and time again. If the chief fully believes police are part of the oppressed and marginalized. I suggest you go visit one of the local library branches to educate himself or even open up the dictionary to learn what those words really mean. I yield my time.

[01:09:26] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Bruce England, what's next? Can you unmute yourself, please?

[01:09:29] Bruce England: Yeah, I think I'm unmuted. you hear me?

[01:09:31] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Yes, welcome.

[01:09:32] Bruce England: Okay, thank you, Mayor, our Puppy Coca. Um, just very quickly, we, uh, I understand the budget. Uh, issue is coming up later, but I wanted to mention now that NBCSP submitted a letter on that, and there's a paragraph in there about this issue, about police department funding and next steps to take. And that's all. just wanted to mention that.

[01:09:52] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. We'll go to Greg Corn next. Please unmute yourself.

[01:09:58] Greg Corn: Hi, can you hear me?

[01:09:59] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Yes, welcome.

[01:10:01] Greg Corn: Hi. Um, my name is Greg Corn, and I'm with the Mountain View Coalition for Police Reform. I'm a resident Los Altos, and for the past 4 years I've attended Los Altos High School, many of my peers are Mountain View residents that have had interactions with the Mountain View Police Department. In 2017, according to the Wall Street Journal, 21% of police calls were about mental illness. Police officers are probably tired of dealing with these non-criminal calls, and also they're not the ones who should be dealing with them. A few cities across the country. I've implemented a program called cahoots, which consists of 1st responders that are mental health experts. This program in larger cities has cost the city's $800,000 to implement, which would not only be less in the city of Mountain View due to the smaller size of the city, but it's also less than 2% of the proposed budget. In cities that have implemented cahoots, the program has taken 20% of the overall call to the police department. That's 2 0. Kahoots would build our community up and help those suffering from mental health instead of criminalizing them. We would stop putting people who need help in prison. We'd also be able to spend more time training police on de-escalation and leave mental health training to a separate team. I urge you to consider this as a possibility to for fund reallocation. Thank you. I yield my time.

[01:11:16] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. Emma Ambler, you're next. Please unmute yourself.

[01:11:24] Emma Ambler: Hi there. you hear me?

[01:11:25] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Yes, welcome.

[01:11:27] Emma Ambler: Hi there. So the police chief spoke about protecting the community. Uh, one Google search of his name revealed an SF Gate article explaining that in 2016, a sexual harassment lawsuit was filed against him by a colleague. The lawsuit was lost due to a one year statute of limitations, but I find the existence of this lawsuit extremely troubling. Women know all too well the obstacles faced to get such a crime in a courtroom, and I believe Bossel's accuser. Instances of sexual misconduct as well as assault by police officers are extremely common. feel free to research this. Who are we trusting to protect our community and lead our police force and what misconduct and is in his past that did not make it to a courtroom?

[01:12:10] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: I have Cairo Mo next, if you can unmute yourself, please. Cairo.

[01:12:17] Cairo Mo: Hello, can you hear me?

[01:12:19] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Yes, welcome.

[01:12:19] Cairo Mo: Yes. Hi, my name is Kyro Moe, and I'm a resident of Mountain View, and I went to Mountain View High School, and I'm commenting against the proposal to increase the police budget by 5.one%. I encourage you to consider immediately freezing the budget increases to the police force, canceling cadet classes, demilitarizing police forces, and reallocating funds from police to community led health and safety strategies. This past week, our nation and community have been grouped by protests, calling for an end to racism and anti-blockness and a complete overhaul in our approach to criminal justice in America. We're demanding that our voices be heard and that real change be made, the way the city allocates our resources. We can't be left behind as other cities move to defund their police while Mountain View stays criminalizing and increasing their police budget. Why does Mountain View Police Department receive more funding than the library, community service, and community development part, community development department put together, we should be investing in strong, healthy communities, not waging war on our people. Research shows that crime is response to social conditions and does not occur in a vacuum. So by defunding police and readirecting money into communities, we can both reduce violent crime and uplift and strength in our communities. I'm calling to reinvest in public institutions like schools, hospitals, and libraries. And the implementation of non-police solutions to social problems, such as affordable housing, healthcare, and employment, all our safety issues. And thank you for your time and I hope that you do not vote to increase the police budget. Thank you.

[01:13:49] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: And finally, I have Joe Cannon. Please and mute yourself. Joe?

[01:13:56] Joe Cannon: All right, hi. Thanks for hearing me. I'm a, um, teacher at a school in Mountain View. I teach a special education. Uh, I serve students who, um, The system does not work for them. Uh, I know what it's like to be part of a system that doesn't work. I know what it's like to work with communities. Um, who are who are ill served. I know what it's like to be criticized. Uh, for being part of a system that's broken. I'm hoping, um, that the officers here, uh, tonight are, are hearing that we have a variety of responses to what's going on. Some of us are angry and upset. Some of us are uh, seeking specific proposals. Um, but it's important to understand that this isn't about you. Um, This is about the system. This is about um, what we need to do next. It's not about what you've accomplished, um, or what you've done or what you haven't done. It's about what our next steps are. Even if you had a perfect, uh, police office, right? If everything were going right all the time, if everything were equal, you would still have a responsibility to our neighboring communities. to reach out and get them on board with the changes that need to happen. Thank you.

[01:15:22] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thanks. Gene Fitz. Can you unmute yourself based, Gene?

[01:15:29] Gene Fitz: No, sorry. I have a couple of questions, basically. I really wanted to join this meeting. So, um, you need to take also an account. How exactly going to protect the public if you defund the police? So I understand that it's very common and very, um, popular opinion about this, but it's really easy to slow it out there. Let's defund the police, but what's going to happen to shop owners. So let's say we do have petty theft, and we do have burglaries here in Mountain View, and how exactly we're going to deal with it. Um, well, a Mountain View police department is actually ahead of mini, as far as I understand. Uh, For example, hiring the special. Uh, uh, researchers, uh, when it comes to violent crimes and uh, and burglaries, they actually do very well. In fact, Mountain View, if you notice, was the only place in the area pretty much that did not have a curfew. In one of it, we was a police work. So shop owners, those who open businesses in Mountain View, uh, will be scared. If you actually define the police, because you need to know. So what what council need to actually understand is that you define, you need to have a plan B, how are you going to protect the public? If you're going to defend the police. Sounds a pretty, pretty, absolutely pretty message. It's absolutely wonderful message. I understand everybody's angry, but we need to put our heads together. How can we do it? Can we, for example, mountain view police to report to sheriff, maybe to save money. That's possible. Thank you.

[01:16:59] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you We go to Safa Santos Powell. Please unmute yourself, and um, just a reminder, you only have one opportunity to speak, so if you've already spoken, please uh, take your, lower your hand. Thank you. And we'll go to Setha..

[01:17:24] Safa Santos Powell: Hi, hi, sorry.

[01:17:25] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: No worries. welcome.

[01:17:27] Safa Santos Powell: My name's Sefa. I'm a resident of Mountain View. I'm commenting against the proposal to increase the police budget by 5.one%. I encourage you to instead consider immediately freezing the budget increases to the police force, canceling cadet classes, demilitarizing police forces. Um, sorry, and reallocating funds from police to community led health and safety strategies. As stated by defund 12.org. The fact that the fact that the MDP encompasses over $42000000 of the city's general operating fund is shameful and unproductive, research shows that a living wage access to holistic health services and treatment, educational opportunity and stable housing are far more successful at reducing crime than police are prisons. State sanctioned violence and murder is occurring, and you are implicated, the MVPD made over 10 times as many arrests for misdemeanors as for violent crimes. They aren't keeping us safe from violence. They're employing the same systems of broken windows policing that have harassed, criminalized and incarcerated black and brown people for decades. There is not just a need for police reform, but police defunding and abolition because the entire structure of policing does nothing but perpetuate a white supremacist state. The average police spends 58 hours learning how to shoot and only 8 hours learning how to de-escalate. They're not trained or equipped to react to the vast majority of crises. Policies to improve the police are not enough, as there's no evidence that implicit bias training or community relations initiatives actually help with reducing the abuses of policing. We need to rematch alternatives. So please do not vote to increase police funding by 5.one%. Do not be complicit in the continued subjugation of black and broad people. propose and vote to expand on Mountain View's current efforts. time set. Thank you.

[01:19:06] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: We're gonna go to Yuonlu, please. Unmute yourself.

[01:19:14] Yuonlu: Hello?

[01:19:14] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Hi there. Welcome.

[01:19:16] Yuonlu: Hi, my name is R Neil. I'm a mountain view resident. I just want to follow up with the previous comments regarding the false equivalents of between the bias against police and bias against colored people. A woman called it appalling. I just want to clarify why it is so appalling because there's a huge power in balance. Police is in the position of power. And the ordinary citizens are not. So, by saying that these 2 are equivalent, That shows, That the bias is actually tremendous, that yield my time.

[01:20:03] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. Go on to, is it Jare or Jare? We can unmute yourself.

[01:20:13] Gowan Fiore: Hi, can you hear me?

[01:20:14] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Yes.

[01:20:15] Gowan Fiore: Hi, I'm Gowan Fiore. I'm a resident of Mountain View and a member of the Mountain View coalition for police perform and accountability. Regardless of what the policies of the police department are right now. Even if they were the state of the art for protecting citizens of Mountain View, which they are not, as others have mentioned, allowing those governed by the policies to set and review the policies, will inevitably lead them to failing to serve the community in the future. The only way that our policing becomes reflective of our values is if we implement a community review council to oversee policies and conduct that is wholly independent from the police. Accountability in governance is paramount. Without it, the problems at hand will continue to fester. I don't want to have to be out in the streets protesting 5 years from now because the city council failed to step up to the plate when I had the chance. But if I have to, I will, along with the 1000s of others who are dissatisfied with our signs and with our votes. Thank you. I yield my time.

[01:21:14] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Well, thank you. We'll go on to Catherine Jansen. Please unmute yourself.

[01:21:22] Catherine Jansen: Hello, can you hear me?

[01:21:23] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Yes, welcome.

[01:21:25] Catherine Jansen: Thank you. Hello, my name is Catherine Jansen and I'm speaking in response to the police chief statement earlier. I've been following MVPD statements and I think it's unhelpful to classify our department as a quote unquote good one. We can't be proud of ourselves simply for not participating in police sanction murder when we're still a part of the systemic problem. The Minneapolis police department also had biased trainings and preached de-escalation also. The truth is our system is flawed and need a community led review panel, and not to rely on the police for police oversight. We should be investing community programs like cahoots that prioritize mental health and housing services that show statistically lower police violence. Thank you. I o my time.

[01:22:03] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you would go to Kimberly Wand. Please mute yourself.

[01:22:09] Kimberly Wand: Hi, can you hear me?

[01:22:10] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Yes, welcome.

[01:22:12] Kimberly Wand: Okay. Uh, so I wanted to uh, agree with everybody who had spoken before me as, as far as, finding a community oriented solution rather than police, specific, the police don't have enough training, for a lot of the mental health solutions. And as far as, uh, the police having been held up as an example of the good police, but I still have friends who have been harassed by the police and uh, microaggressions directed against them. So I don't think that it's the case that we are so good. Um, I'd like to, echo Kamala Harris's sentiment of finding the need for a different, social reform, and a different public safety protocol. Thank you. you have my time.

[01:23:11] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you Um, and J A R E. I don't know how to pronounce that, but if you can emute yourself, please? Is it Jare? You should be on.

[01:23:27] Jared: Can you hear me?

[01:23:28] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Yes, welcome.

[01:23:30] Jared: My name is Jared. I'm a resident of Mountain View, been in the Bay for a little over 8 years. I wanted to say that I was really disappointed. to hear the police chief compare experience of police officers to the experience of the black and Hispanic residents of Mountain View, and say that some recent kind of anti-police sentiment kind of amounted to anything close to some of the things that those people here face. Um, I was really happy to hear a lot of the city council acknowledged the disparities created by certain social issues, uh, in Mountain View, between white and Asian residents and black and Hispanic residents here, but was really disappointed to hear. The same breath, some of those city council members say that because they rode around in a cop car, as white city council members riding around in a cop car, and saw that everything was fond, that that proved that there wasn't a problem. I want to make sure that the community has oversight over our police force is supposed to protect us. And I want to make sure that we're seriously considering addressing the root causes of some of those social issues that, We talk about things like affordable housing or funding education. And I want to make sure that we're prioritizing funding for those things. And I also want to hear from the city council what we're going to do to make sure that it is those Hispanic and black people who are, and kind of mostly affected by this issue, are represented in these meetings, are here to talk to their leaders and demand justice. you.

[01:25:04] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. Any other members of the public wishing to speak? Uh, city clerk? Are there any members of the public that you have received comments from?

[01:25:19] City Clerk: There, I have a couple of emails that I'll read. Um, a couple of these emails were indicated to be for item 5 oral communications on non-agenda items. However, I believe that they are actually in response to this presentation item. So I'll go ahead and read those. The 1st email is from Cole Fano. Hello, I'm Colfano. I'm part of the Mountain View Coalition for Police Reform and Accountability. Currently Mountain View Police Department policies are written by a private for-profit vendor, lexipol. Contracting with lexical means that our small and suburban police department's policies significantly overlap with the same policies that are used in larger metropolitan and urban cities with a long history of problematic police abuses. We share the same policies with Winslow, Police Department, who fatally shot and killed the Navajo nation tribe member accused of shoplifting 26 packs of beer. Recently, the Winslow police department has been absolved of any consequence for this fatal shooting. This is unacceptable, and our community should not be the subject, not be subject to the same policies as other cities. We want community and resident led reform, which govern the police officers who service the residents. It is not appropriate for police to determine for themselves how they are allowed to use force, as well as what criteria determines whether or not they abuse the use of force or how it will be determined if they will ever face consequences of abuse. We demand a visioning process to create a community led effort for auditing policies, defined desired changes up to these policies, and verifying that they are fully implemented. Thank you, Colfano. The next message is from Jacob McClaus. My name is Jake and I'm with the Mountain View Coalition for Police Reform. I have lived in Mountain View for 7 years on California Street. I stand in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement and all minority communities who have experienced police suppression as a result of the systemic racism that has been with us since our nation's inception. Mountain View is not unaffected. According to our police report in in 2018, black people made up only 2% of mountain peace population, but black people accounted for more than 10% of the arrests in our city. The racist pattern is clear and arrest of Latin people. And not view as well. They made up 20% of the population, but accounted for 47% of the arrest. Our generic policies, largely purchased from the private company, Lexipole, include too many loopholes that allow for abuse. These policies must be revised to ensure that police officers are held accountable for over arresting and use of force against people of color in our city. I will call for a hearing before June 23rd to establish a community led, independent, and fully open commission to review the funding and revise the policies of the Mountain View Police Department. And I'll go ahead now and just check, um, email to see, I believe I have at least one other, on the same topic. And actually, uh, someone else joined in, um, in the 10 day box. So Alex Long, would you like a city clerk, if you don't mind, I'll take Alex at all. Thank you.

[01:28:33] City Clerk: Alex, can you unmute yourself, please?

[01:28:37] Alex Wong: Hi, my name is Alex Wong. First, I'd like to thank you for your time and for listening to all of our concerns. I'm writing also with the Mountain View Coalition for Peace Reform, and it's, um, demands for public hearing before June 23rd on this issue and also for a deeply considering of the police's role in non-View. The MVPD statistics are appalling. And it's clear that, and it's clear that the city has dedicated over $40000000 in its budget, with the result of a massive over policing, of black and brown lives, even while crimes are not being solved. You may believe our police source is different, but it follows the same state laws and federal laws, the same flawed court systems, and the finals the same people into the same prison system that has ruined so many lives. I too am astounded by what the police chief and council members have said today, especially in the context of the 100s of years, long legacy, of criminalization by the police. None of that context changes here in Mountain View. That is so clear from what the public has been saying. I am thinking about the students who are constantly harassed by school police officers, but never receive actual support. I'm thinking about the houseless population that gets policed away from the public view, but isn't offered the help that can move them towards secure housing. I'm thinking about all of the city council projects that have been disbanded or have lacked funding while our police force has sucked up a 3rd of our budget. That we have lived for so long in a system that uses militarized police forces, and the threat of revenge for crime is destructive and counterproductive. I want us to look to cities around the US that have had to face tragedy. in order to find the courage to move forward. I want us to have that courage now. I urge us to reallocate our police funding towards systems. I can actually provide resources to people in need. And I urge us to open a more public a publicly accountable system. I just do more in this political moment because our lives depend on it. Thanks.

[01:30:21] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. And, um, Gene Fitz. I think you already spoke, so, um, I'm gonna go back to city clerk. You have other emails?

[01:30:33] City Clerk: Yes, thank you. Like, I have additional email again. This one is indicated for item 5, but I believe it's for this item 3.one. This is from Connor DuBay. The police chief mentioned white, quite a lot of different responsibilities that fall on the police department. It is unreasonable for the people to expect police who receive less training than beauticians as an example to competently handle all of these different types of issues. Would we train social workers the more effective solution to people who are desperate or in need of mental health support? Why should a highway patrol or traffic monitoring officer carry a lethal weapon? Of course, there are some escalated or violent instance where some force may be reasonable after proper de-escalation, et cetera. But those statistically are encountered less often when the community has real resources that support their mental health, food stability and education. We allocate funds back into the neighborhoods in need and bring more qualified individuals and to support what police are unreasonably expected to do. And I'll just check, mayor, um, a number of emails have come in since this item started, so I just want to make sure I caught them all. And I have one another attendee, Rachel Gilbert, would you like to unmute yourself? Rachel, welcome. You should be on. Rachel. Rachel, can you unmute yourself? I think you are unmuted, but uh, you can double check. Rachel. Nope, I just lost her.

[01:32:31] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Right. I'm sorry, city click, could you like to continue? Maybe Rachel will come back.

[01:32:37] City Clerk: Thank you, mayor. I have, um, I've looked and I do not see any additional, um, oh, no, I take that back. There is an email right here. This is from Talia M. As a former teacher of many students of color in the Mountain View community. I have heard my fair share of stories of unnecessary and traumatic experiences at the hands of a Mountain View Police Department. And while I'd like to believe that improvements can be made to police departments across the country through additional screening, training, and similar initiatives, data shows that these are not effective. Even here in the Bay Area, Derek Sanderlin, the very person who was responsible for bias screening and training for the San Jose Police Department for years, was shot by San Jose Police Department last week, despite having his hands up and remaining calm from the state distance away, or consider the case of Eric Garner in New York. The use of chokeholds was already prohibited by the new, by the NYPD. Yet a chunkhold was what NYPD officers used to take his life in 2014. I was pleased to hear that our cities police decided to discontinue the use of chokeholds yesterday, but who's to say that this decision will actually keep it from happening. Now you must do more than offer empty promises, surrounding values and commitment to the community. The very foundation on which policing in the US is built is rooted in racism, and regardless of the individual officers implicit or explicit biases, the system itself needs to change. Members of the Minneapolis City Council have already begun working on dismantling their current law enforcement practices and establishing a safer, more community oriented alternative. And it's important that we too start to enact the same changes. Thank you. Thank you. With that, I believe I have all of them and I don't have any voicemail messages received before 5 PM.

[01:34:25] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. Great. Thank you. Um, I see Caitlin Davis. Would you like to unmute yourself?

[01:34:33] Caitlin Davis: Oh yeah, can you hear me?

[01:34:34] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Yep, welcome.

[01:34:37] Caitlin Davis: Hi, my name is Caitlin Davis. I am a student at MVHS and I have been a Mountain View resident for most of my life and I wanted to give some insight to help black Americans like myself feel right now. Every day in America, I'm filled with fear. Fear for my life, for my family, for my sister, for my cousins, for my friends, and for people I'll never get to meet because their lives were stolen from them entirely too soon. I live in fear of the police at my middle school who treated me like a criminal for trying to put my friend's baseball bat by his bike, and in fear of the racist man in downtown who screamed in my face and tried to follow me when I ran away, barely being able to stop my hands from shaking while crying hysterically. I live in fear of the substitute teachers who preach anti-black racist rhetoric to my classes in which I am the only black person. And as a result, the only person who speaks out against it sticking out like a sore thumb. I live in fear of being ridiculed for my natural hair as I have for most of my life. The way I dress, how I talk, constantly worried if I've adhered to black stereotypes for something as simple as how I stand. I live in fear that no matter how hard I try to conform to the social norm, to be palatable to whiteness, and to grin and bear the hateful words that my community spews, that it'll be for nothing, that the only thing they'll see is a black threat, not me. But most importantly, I live in fear that even if I die, even if I put my life on the line to create change in the dismal everyday reality for black people in America, that the next day will be no different from the one before it. I live in fear that despite my voice, my protests and my lived experience, that I would still die in vain, that my death would be nothing but the next trending hashtag, nothing but a speck in the history of black suffocation in America. Thank you for your time.

[01:35:58] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. Okay, Rachel Gilbert. Hopefully we can hear you.

[01:36:05] Rachel Gilbert: Sorry about that.

[01:36:07] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Welcome.

[01:36:08] Rachel Gilbert: I live in Mountain View, and I believe that Mountain View should spend more of its budget on social services unless on policing. Police are budgeted at 30.3% of expenditures, and I think some of those funds would be more effectively spent on services for mental health, substance abuse, safe parking and housing support. Social workers and other human services, professionals are more appropriate than police to address human services issues. Thank you.

[01:36:37] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: And thank you. And then Anna Boyer. Please unmute yourself.

[01:36:45] Anna Boyer: Um, hi, can you hear me?

[01:36:47] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Yes, welcome.

[01:36:48] Anna Boyer: Okay. Hi, my name is Anna Boyer. Um, I am a citizen and Mountain View, and I currently live and work here. I'm also part of the Mountain View Coalition for Police Reform, and I just wanted to voice my support for everything that people have been saying about all the actions that we think should be happening, all the changes. Um, I also really want to emphasize the fact that, um, even though our police department might say that we don't have as many problems here as in other cities, that does not mean that we should not be passing on the same reforms are pushing for the same changes that have been happening in Minneapolis and New York City. If we're going to stay as an example, then we should be passing not only what other cities have been doing, but go beyond that and stay as the gold standard that we say that we are. Um, for too long, I felt ashamed about people like myself who haven't faced the same level of discrimination as black people and other minorities, um, and is our responsibility to not just let these deaths become some trending thing on social media that we talk about and let fade away. We need to let these changes continue without so that this never happens ever again and not wait for situations like this and brutal murders to happen in our own city before we make a change. Thank you every time.

[01:38:05] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. Uh, I think that is all of the hands I see raised. Oh, I spoke to you soon. Hell, dun, dun, dun. Do you unmute yourself, please, Hal?

[01:38:21] Hal: Yeah, um, I want to demand that the council members vote, no, on the 5% increase to the police budget, as well as work to defund the police and invest those funds into the community. Across the country, police reform efforts have failed. Um, to stop police violence, the department must actually be reduced. You know, crime is not random. Most of the time it happens when people are unable to meet their basic needs through other means. Um, ensuring that Mountain View residents have access to things like affordable housing, health services and like other community resources is a far more effective way. of preventing crime than policing and incarceration. Um, We're using the police to respond to wide range of challenges in their community from like minor drug use to mental health. They're simply not equipped for. Um, having cops arm with lethal weapons responding to these crises just escalates situations. We need to replace cops with 1st responders and social workers. Um, that are trained in mental health, the escalation and restorative justice. Thank you. Thank you for my time.

[01:39:41] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: And I think that concludes public comment, so I will close public comment, and uh, thank you again, Chief, for um, joining us this evening. Uh, this is an ongoing conversation, and um, we will continue this dialogue. Um, you know, I, I do believe that our police department is one of the top notch departments in, I've always said this in, in the state, if not the country. Um, I'm not white. And, um, what I, you know, what I hear, my, like, I, what I don't appreciate is any kind of stereotyping. And we're not trying to say this is worse than that. Any kind of racism, any kind of discrimination is wrong. And I just want to make clear that we are all on the same page there. So we'll continue this dialogue and, um, you know, we do welcome public comment. I appreciate all of those who came and spoke this evening. Um, you know, we are your representatives on the city council. You're always welcome to email and contact us as well. As I know many of you have, and um, we will, as I said, um, we welcome your input and we will continue um, this conversation. So with that, um, I have some council members would like to comment, so the advice mayor may.

[01:41:12] Vice Mayor Ellen Kamei: Great, thank you. I tried to raise a hand before we got to public comment, but I think I got missed. So, um, I just like to make a few remarks and, um, you know, tonight I know that this, this item is, is listed as an update from our police department. But I really think that at the heart of this discussion, we're talking about equity. And we're talking about our shared humanity. You know, 1st I'd like to thank the mayor for her opening comments. I joined her and counselor member Ramirez in signing the equity pledge. Um, and that equity pledge is a commitment to dismantling systemic inequalities in Silicon Valley with multiple action items that I know the 3 of us and I'm sure my colleagues are all committed to. Second, I do want to thank the police chief 1st presentation. Um, and I, and I hope that this is something perhaps that we can have on a, on an ongoing basis, so that there is that public dialogue, um, in terms of what is going on. And 3rd, I want to thank the public for their comments. Uh, tonight during the meeting, email, phone calls, and more. I truly feel that this is an opportunity to have the hard conversations about unconscious bias and commit to real conversations about privilege, as well as systemic racism, um, in our, in our country, as well as what's in our community. And I really am committed to seeking ways to repair and change these entrenched systems, which, as numerous colors mentioned, have been ongoing for centuries. I appreciate the call for action and that action being now. And the mayor mentioned putting together a race and equity ad hoc committee. that I am interested to learn more about, and I'm sure we'll be discussing later on tonight. Council has also set a goal of youth, mental health and wellness. I think this is an opportunity for counsel to also reevaluate, perhaps prioritize. Mental health and wellness overall for our community. We have been engaged in furthering our social services and our interactions with the county. And I think this is, um, these are all steps that will be actionable. Thank you.

[01:43:51] Councilmember Chris Clark: Thank you, Counselor Metachek. Thank you. Um, a couple things. Um, I do appreciate everyone, uh, coming out tonight to, um, Share their thoughts with the council. I listen very, very carefully. And um, I tried to read as many emails as I could before this evening. Um, I'm interested in hearing about the equity pledge. I hadn't heard of that, and, um, you know, I think, um, other council members would be interested to sign on to that, if the 3 of you who heard about it and signed on to it, uh, would let us know about it, I would appreciate that. Um, there's a couple things. Uh, I wanted to raise and one is. You know, I do know that mental health is um, an area that is a great concern to a lot of people. And um, we encounter it uh, quite a bit. Um, The police force does, the firefighters do. We do. Everyone does. And I am kind of wondering, and I don't know if we can answer it here, but, but what does that interface look like? uh, between the different groups within mountain view and the county, when it comes to mental health, because I think we have, um, you know, they do take the lead on that as well as other areas. And I think it'd be good to understand more about the interface there. And if there are ways we could improve that. Um, and take a look at, you know, is the, Is the, um, division of responsibility where it should be. Um, maybe that's something we can revisit. And I guess we don't have to answer that here, but the other thing I'm interested in is, um, you know, our chief talked about, uh, the, um, 8 policies and how we felt like we, um, we did those. We didn't use the exact same words, but we align pretty closely. And, um, the chief said that we would take a look at, you know, how we could potentially, um, our shipping potentially, you know, tweak ours so that we're in complete alignment. So I'm interested to know the timeline for doing that. And I'm also interested in knowing the timeline for the conversation. And uh, further discussion, further exploration. Basically what's next? Um, I do want to, um, not just have this be the end of the conversation, as others have mentioned, um, and I do want to know what the plan is. For moving forward. Thanks.

[01:46:30] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Counselor Hicks?

[01:46:36] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Okay. Well, the, uh, council member, Mattercheck, and can I cupboard much of what I was going to cover? Um, I, I, in terms of moving forward, I'm also interested as several people have said already in, uh, visiting this, uh, via, uh, council meetings. I also wanted to bring up, I believe the Human Relations Commission is going to have forums on this same subject and I think people may want to engage with that. So if somebody's more on top of when that will be, because that may be the next time that people can engage. Um, if anyone uh, present now can announce that that would be helpful. I was interested in many of the things that public said, particularly interested in the Coops program, and a little more of the 8 can't wait program, and I won't go into detail on more. But yeah, there's, there can be, um, some, if somebody can say when the human relations commission will, um, will speak more and what the next step for counsel might be, that would be helpful.

[01:47:44] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: I'm going to get a council member, McAllister, and then have a city manager, if you have, um, comments and uh, details on HRC and other items. If you wouldn't mind commenting, appreciate it. The Council owner McAllister?

[01:47:59] Councilmember John McAlister: Well, thank you, Mayor. A couple of points I'd like to point out. What I made, my uh, remarks about that. My years, all these years, I hadn't crowded anything, and that's my perception. Just a single ride along did not, I did not take a ride along to develop or reflect on what I saw out in the city. So I just wanted to clear that. As one, as a young adult that grew up during the Vietnam War and all the protesting. Um, I can, I can't say I sense your frustration, but if it's anything like I had growing up as a young adult during the Vietnam War, and the frustration of injustice, and government listening to us. I have to say that I commend you for your respectful approach. That you've taken tonight, that you have been engaged, and I hope you stay engaged because it makes our lives important. You are providing, uh, great advocacy for a cause that you believe in. And I always appreciate people that are committed to making social change for the best. So I'm sort of, I would like to reach out to Dana PD and Caitlin Newman. If you are available to meet, I would like to speak with you and learn from what you have to say and better understand. Because I appreciate what your words were. And that would be one way for to bridge a little bit of a gap to say for me to get a better understanding. But again, I thank everybody for their time. I thank the chief, for, you know, he had to take some hard blows, but they're for the best as we move forward, and I look forward to the future discussions, forms, debates. That will just move the city to that much better of a community for all. Thank you.

[01:49:57] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you Say manager, and if you want to go right into your COVID update too, that would be great.

[01:50:05] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: Sure, thank you, mayor and council members. Just to answer the 1st question about the HRC and next steps. Um, as previously mentioned, the HRC did meet an HRC HRC stands for the Human Relations Commission. They did meet this past Thursday and had a very good discussion that the police chief attended just on next steps and moving forward and just to let the community know there was previously a community or civility round table scheduled for this past march on unconscious bias. Um, so that was intended to happen in March and then the pandemic happened. So as we've had to change and adapt, that has just been moved out, but that was scheduled to happen, as I said, even before the current event. So we are working on planning that. They also formed a couple, um, subcommittees related to work working on these new items and one of them being working with the police department to help facilitate dialogue between the departments and the community and those specifics have yet to be determined. As I mentioned, they just met on Thursday. So a lot of this work and a lot of these ideas are going to be underway over the next few weeks. I also realize that there is interest in the council subcommittee. On the diversity and equity and inclusion efforts. And I look forward to supporting that and working with those council members, um, when that does get uh, brought up, um, later on today. I look forward to talking about that. One of the things that I think that we are committed to and have been committed to is really thinking through as an organization, what we can do to bolster those efforts, not only with the current programs that we have now, but in the future. And this goes just beyond the police department. I think this is just in general. And I do want to also say that, you know, like all of you, I was horrified and shocked by the death of Mr. Floyd, and I think that his his death has really amplified the violence and racism that has been. Um, against black Americans since the beginning of our country's history. And sometimes this shows up in really overt ways, like what we missed witnessed with Mr. Floyd's death and many others before him. And other times it's silent with very devastating results. And we see this today with the COVID-19 deaths disproportionately affecting black Americans at a much faster rate than others. There's also higher unemployment rates and lower wages and unequal access to education. So like many of you have said, addressing these inequalities means having these hard conversations with each other about privilege and acknowledging this framework of institutional racism and really doing the hard work to repair and and change these entrenched systems. And I think that I can speak for, um, all of the city staff and saying that we are proud to work for the city of Mountain View, and we believe that we are serving at the most impactful level of government on a daily basis. We are the ones that get to implement programs and policies and processes that really affect our community. And I would say too, that we really strive to fulfill the promise of democracy and what that means in our country. So, you know, I want to let everyone know that I know that it takes intentional steps to avoid perpetuating all of the inequalities that are present today. in our society. And it also means that we have to seek and understand how some of our policies and practices affect all people and affect others, even even if that's not our intention. So, I know that we have countless examples in our city where we're doing that work and I'll share that soon with our COVID-19 update. But I do want to say that we have the opportunity to do more, that we are a leader in Mountain View, and I've been saying that as a leader, we are always seeking to continually improve and and really look to see what what we can do that is going to serve our community better and produce better outcomes. So, uh, I do want to thank the police chief for his leadership in this regard and say that we are committed to listening and we are committed to having this dialogue with the community. And I just want to acknowledge that if there ever was a time to grieve and feel frustrated or angry, it's now. And I understand it on a personal level, I have family members who are black, and I also understand it just from hearing everything that, we've heard from the public comment today, and everything that we have heard in the nation. And I really feel like we're at a juncture in history where we can have these courageous conversations and build each other up and try and affect meaningful change. So, I think that we can support that aspiration here in Mountain View to really make sure that everyone does feel welcome and valued as a human being. So just in closing, I just want to make sure that everyone knows that that I am committed to doing this work, that we are committed to doing this work, staff is committed to it. I don't have all the answers tonight. Um, this has been an evolving conversation and I really want to take the time and be thoughtful and listen to the community and talk to council members, talk to community members, talk to the police department, talk to our staff, and really think about how we're going to affect this change and how we're going to implement these these programs. Um, so I, like I said, I can't um, give all the answers tonight, but what I can give is my commitment to, to doing this work. And I think that we have a lot of opportunities ahead of us and there are a lot of things that, that we can do to improve. So I do look forward to having those conversations. And I, I, I think that, um, Just at the bottom core, it is who we are in Mountain View and it's, uh, what we aspire to in, in our, it's in our future. So I know that, um, I don't have all of the specifics, but I will be sharing all of those ideas shortly and also talking more about how we can have those conversations. And so with that, I do want to launch into the presentation and share my screen. And part of what I'm going to share towards the end, I want to talk about what we will be doing to have a town hall this Friday towards the end of the conversation. Can you all see my screen now? Okay, thank you. So I think most of you know I've been giving these together Mountain View, uh, updates over the last, um, every council meeting that we've had since, uh, the end of March, and so what I'm going to do is highlight some of the items that we have, um, been working on and give you some updates on a lot of the really good efforts that I think we're making for the community. The 1st thing is that our together MB donation portal so far has now raised almost, well, $141,200. So right now there's about 87,000 towards the rent relief effort and also 54,000 to the business relief effort. In terms of our rent relief program, just providing an update from what council received before. So right now, we are at around 1900 uh total applications and about 554 households that have been assisted. So this is an increase of almost 250 households just since the last update that was given. In terms of the applications that are pending. There's about 1300 pending.

[01:58:42] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: And so far about 1100000 of the amount that the city gave has been expended. So the average amount of assistance is still remaining around the $2000 range. In terms of all of the efforts that we've made towards our homeless and unstably housed um, Relief efforts, I really wanted to present a snapshot of all the work that's been underway over the last 3 months, and this just kind of gives some daily highlights, um, including uh, 9100 masks that have been given just in the last few months to, um, homeless residents, seniors, little income families, and other community members in need. We have hand delivered over 2500 packets, to homeless residents and those folks that are living in their vehicles, really trying to help them, and link them to services. We provided 425 hygiene kits to our homeless residents. We also have put up numerous portable hand washing stations and restrooms across the city. We have 9 parks that have been open. We're serving an average of 111 people in our safe parking lots that are open 247. Um, that's around 50 vehicles per parking lot. We've also delivered almost 2000 packets of food to those folks who are living in their vehicles in our homeless residents. We provided 320 grocery gift cards. We've spent over 260 hours of city staff time working on this face shields. We've deployed our staff to work on these efforts, 7 days a week we're working. So, I just wanted to highlight the fact that these efforts are continuing and have been very important to us over the last 3 months and just really making sure that we are serving the most vulnerable, members of our community and really trying to step up and make sure that people are staying safe and healthy during the pandemic. I also wanted to provide an update of the small business resiliency program. So I'm really happy to report that so far, uh, 4 businesses have received uh, micro loans, and 22 have been approved to receive funding that will be distributed this week. And there's 69 small businesses that are currently working on their loan applications with Main Street launch. And we expect those to be completed hopefully within the next week or two. Also wanted to highlight our pop-up testing efforts that we did, which were very successful. So last Monday on Memorial Day, May 25th. We had the pop-up testing mobile unit at our community center at the aquatic center parking lot. And it was open for 4 hours on that on that day on Memorial Day, and there were almost 500 people tested. Then just 2 days later, the mobile unit came back and had about 450 people tested. So we had over 940 people that were tested. And then I'm also happy to say that we are bringing daily testing into Mountain View that will help out in the North County area. So we are partnering with the county of Santa Clara and in association with their contract service provider Planned Parenthood. to offer a drive through COVID testing site at our shoreline athletic fields on Garcia Avenue, starting on Monday, June 15th. So the week of June 15th, there's really intended to be, um, kind of a, uh, for 1st responders, and essential workers, and other service employees that have been identified by the county. And then there's going to be a more broad launch to the community on Monday, June 22nd, where it will be open to the general public. And at this time, the testing is 1st come 1st serve and there's no appointment necessary. The hours are tentatively scheduled to be 9 to noon and then one to 4 Monday through Thursdays. Um, and as I said, this has been a very fast moving, um, Effort that we've been making with the county. So more details will come soon, but I did want to give a preliminary update on that. But I also wanted to let um, everyone know about the updated shelter in place order and how it's changed um, just over the last few weeks and how it's changed from March. So right now, outdoor dining is allowed as well as in-store retail shopping. There are other activities allowed such as house cleaning and other services that do not involve contact. Pet grooming, dog walking. Also, all childcare and summer camps are eligible to reopen now up to 12 children. And the groups of children can change every 3 weeks. Also, all outdoor ceremonies and religious gatherings are allowed, now up to 25 people, and our swimming pools are allowed to reopen camping is open now, and drive-in theaters and other automobile based gatherings are also open right now. So in terms of our own dog parks and tennis courts, um, our fenced dog parks are now open, shoreline and ringdorf, um, masks are required and distancing is required just like everywhere else. Our tennis courts are also open now and we would just ask people to make sure that they're complying with the signage and that they're making sure that, um, they're only playing with up to one other household and maintaining that social distance. Right now, people in the community can register for our summer camps. They are 4 week programs starting in June 8. So yesterday through July 2nd. They can go to mountain view.gov slash register to sign up for camps. And we are currently working on opening our pools right now. We're still training our lifeguards and making sure that our facilities are clean. So we anticipate opening the pools very soon. I also wanted to announce that our library is going to have a grab and go program. So what this means is that, um, Staff will be able to clean the books, shelf the books and have the materials ready to go. And um, the anticipated start date for this is mid-June. And so customers can begin placing holds on these library items using their accounts. And the librarians will be able to talk to people about book recommendations and different suggestions for kids. And we're just really making sure that right now everything is clean. Um, so right now it's anticipated to be Tuesday through Saturday, 2 to 6 PM at 585 Franklin Street, and the line begins at the surface parking lot. So I just would encourage everyone to go to Mountain View.gov slash library, um, to start registering, um, and getting their books on hold so that they can drive up and get those books once the program starts. Then, uh, one other quick update, the closure of Castro Street is on council's consent agenda this evening, where we are proposing to close the 100 to 400 blocks of Castro to allow restaurants um, and retails to expand into the streets. It's anticipated to start June 22nd and last through September. And that is temporary for summer right now. Also, we still have 23 pedestrian crossings that are automated right now. So this means that they will automatically change without people having to press the button. Then, as I mentioned at the start of this meeting, we are having a virtual town hall meeting this Friday at 4 PM, uh, which will include myself, the mayor, the police chief and also other department heads who are able to be there to answer any questions from the community and give updates on, um, all of the things that are underway right now. And so you can register to ask questions at mountain view.gov slash town underscore hall. Then as I always do, I want to make sure that everyone knows census, uh, self-reporting is still going on through October 31st and right now we're at 68% of our households in Mountain View that have been counted. So we want to make sure that we're getting our numbers up and making sure that we are all counted. And then lastly, you can text MV COVID to 22828 to receive a curated briefing email sent directly to your inbox twice a week. So that concludes my COVID update and I am open for any questions.

[02:07:45] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you, city manager. Any questions from council members? I don't see any hands. Oh, my snare.

[02:07:59] Vice Mayor Ellen Kamei: Great, thank you. So I recently saw that the county adopted an additional $5000000 to be allocated towards COVID relief. Um, it's, and I, um, was wondering if you had any information in terms of making sure that opportunity is um, available on that view.

[02:08:25] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: Thank you, council member Kameh, yes. I also just learned about this program. And so, It is called the COVID-19 financial assistance program and it's being administered through the Sacred Heart Community Service and Destination Home. So this is an expansion of the funding that was provided before. And, uh, the website is sacredheartcs.org, um, for people who are interested uh, in applying for the assistance for this. And I, um, do not have other information as this is new, but I do know that that is yet another opportunity, um, for people to apply for service. And so we're really glad that that that's available, um, to anyone who lives in Santa Clara County.

[02:09:15] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Anyone else from council? If not, I will go to the attendee box for public comment. Uh, again, if you would like to speak, please, uh, hit the raise hand button. If you're in the tandy box, if you're on the phone, you can hit star 9. And I have Bruce England. You can unmute yourself, please.

[02:09:39] Bruce England: Hi, can you hear me?

[02:09:40] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Yes, hi.

[02:09:41] Bruce England: Hi, thank you, mayor. Bruce England speaking for myself, Bisbon Station Drive. I just had a couple of questions. Oh, the thing just flipped on me. Okay, went to the timer. Thanks. Um, 2 questions for the city manager. One has to do with the advisory bodies, so they pretty much went on hold during the pandemic period. Some have started meeting and some haven't and I'm particularly concerned about VPAC, bicycle pedestrian advisory committee, not meeting. So I'd like to know what's happening with that. Um, and then the other is the COVID-19 task force or whatever, uh, the name is it applies to that. I heard about it through HRC, but I don't really know any details about it, and there's public involvement. And so those are my, um, questions and comments. Thank you.

[02:10:29] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. Any other members of the public wishing to speak? City clerk, do we have any other comment?

[02:10:38] City Clerk: Uh, let's see. I'm just confirming, um, We do not have any comments on this item. Thank you.

[02:10:45] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. And I will close public comment and city manager. Did you want to respond?

[02:10:50] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: Yes, thank you, mayor. I just would like to say that there is a BPAC meeting on June 24th. Uh, so that is forthcoming. And, um, we do have a Mountain View resiliency round table that has been created, um, by, uh, by the mayor and with, um, several community leaders, uh, from all um, aspects of our community. So including business and, um, community-based organizations, um, are some of our immigrant community groups, our small business groups, downtown groups, um, uh, different, uh, other leaders in our community, and it is intended that this group is meeting once a month. And we will be hopefully creating a website about the work that this group is doing and the conversations that will be had about this and this launched just last week. So we're just getting it up and going and figuring out what our next steps are, but we will have a website devoted to this so that people can learn more about it.

[02:12:00] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: And I just wanted to add that the focus of the round tables really um operational. How do we get the different businesses and service providers, the school districts, reopening as we're moving through the phases. So it's a more brilliant operational, um, discussion and um, not as much policy related and so, um, that is why the composition is the composition that it is. Um, so, uh, yes, uh, um, I appreciate that we will be hosting more information about it on the website. Um, so with that, is there any other discussion on the update?

[02:12:46] Unknown Speaker: Nope.

[02:12:47] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: All right. So um, it's 9 o'clock. I'm going to suggest that we take a 10 minute recess, um, with that if, uh, we can all be back by 910. Uh, that would be great. Thank you.

[02:13:22] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Delicious to the move an item for discussion. The reading of the full text of resolutions will be waived unless accounts member requests otherwise. Would any member of the council like to pull an item? And let's see, I have a council member Clark.

[02:13:38] Councilmember Chris Clark: Yes, I don't wish to poll an item, but I need to, um, announce that I'm recusing myself from the 1st recommend that action of item 4.10, um, which is to adopt resolution approving the proposed amendment to the El Camino Real bike improvement, uh, design project 20 dash 61. Uh, due to my real property ownership interest located in close proximity to the project site.

[02:14:03] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you, Counselor McAllister.

[02:14:09] Councilmember John McAlister: I need to also to recuse myself because of my leasehold improvement on El Camino. But I also like to pull items 4.64.10 and 4.12.

[02:14:24] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: And that's for Hicks.

[02:14:27] Councilmember Alison Hicks: I'm pulling any items. I just wanted to say a word or 2 about 4.12, maybe, maybe other council member do. Members do as well.

[02:14:38] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: It was pulled by Council member McAllister, so we'll just have you comment at that time. Counselor Medachek.

[02:14:47] Councilmember Lisa Matichak: Thanks. Yeah, I also wanted to call 46 and 4 10.

[02:14:52] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. Any members of the public wishing to comment on any consent items, if you have, um, if you are, and I didn't. Oh. Yes, cancel number. Council member, does that Council member Kellister or?

[02:15:14] Unknown Speaker: No, I didn't do anything.

[02:15:16] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Okay, all right. We'll go to public comment. Uh, Mr. England. If you'd like to unmute yourself, please.

[02:15:26] Bruce England: Yeah, I think you pulled 412, yes?

[02:15:30] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Yes, we did.

[02:15:31] Bruce England: Okay, I'd like to comment on that when we get to it.

[02:15:34] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Um, why don't you go ahead and uh, make your comments now and just take public comment at this time on any item?

[02:15:42] Bruce England: Okay. A little bit unprepared, so hold on. Uh, so MVCSP Moundview coalition for sustable planning, uh, submitted some comments and questions about the closure. So I'm just bringing those up right now. Probably more than I can fit in in the time. Um, We want more details about the space designation. There's discussion in the report about the amount of space in the middle of Castro for pedestrians and bicyclists, but it doesn't talk about how much space and how that will be marked off and all of that. Um, We'd also like to hear discussion about how the program might be carried forward past the pandemic period because Castro Street closure has been discussed for a long time. Uh, we suggest closing parts of Dana and Villa on side streets because there are restaurants along there too. Uh, we'd like to see some traffic control changes that encourage passage north-south, uh, instead of equal north-southeast, west, as it is now. Um, We want to make sure the pedestrian access on sidewalks isn't negatively impacted. Uh, also a possible consideration for closing the South Park Castro for the farmer's market on the street instead of elsewhere. Uh, bicycle pedestrian advisory committee consultation on this would be nice, but they're not meeting until after. So, we'll see how that goes. We applaud increased bike parking. And we want to know about impacts by the personal delivery devices, although I did see some comment about that. in question responses that were posted to the city website. And that's it. I managed to do that within the time.

[02:17:27] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. Great, thank you. And actually, city clerk, could we sit in at 2 minutes? We have several speakers. Thank you. We'll go to April Webster. If you can unmute yourself, April.

[02:17:40] April Webster: Just did.

[02:17:40] Public Speaker: Hi.

[02:17:41] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you.

[02:17:42] April Webster: Hi. Um, I just want, uh, I'm speaking to uh, resolution 4.12 as well. And I going to be brief. I just wanted to say I'm absolutely thrilled to see this on the table. Um, to see Castro Street closed to car traffic, and the entire street opened up to pedestrians and bicyclists, um, so I can, community can more safely gather, socialize, and then support all of the local restaurants and businesses along Castro. Um, I know, Everyone will be much more likely to go downtown having to worry less about social distancing on the sidewalks, which are already very crowded. Um, and I just wanted to extend a heart, uh, felt thank you to our city council for considering um, this action. Uh, I'm obviously in full support. And I, um, have all of my fingers and toes crossed and it gets passed and soon. Thank you.

[02:18:35] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. Mr. Peter Katz, welcome. If you can unmute yourself, please.

[02:18:43] Peter Katz: Can you hear me?

[02:18:44] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Yes, thank you.

[02:18:46] Peter Katz: Thank you, and good evening. I'm here, cats, president, CEO of the Mountain Chamber of Commerce, speaking to 4.2. Our nonprofit represents 750 of our local businesses and organization, which is to help our companies and community fund together. The economic and social impact of coronavirus has been devastating to everyone, especially her, have been our small businesses, many of whom are located on Astra Street. The chamber team has been working closely with our members, the downtown associations, social agencies, community groups, and the city on ways to help restore economic health, ensure welcoming and diversity downtown. The overriding sentiment, as we've heard, is directly from our members, is that opening up Castler Street to pedestrian traffic enabled seating would be a welcome contribution to recovery. This section would allow them to serve more customers and encourage more people to visit downtown. The Chamber of Commerce is in full support of this proposal and stands ready to provide guidance, reference materials, and other assistance to ensure businesses can operate safely and effectively in this exciting news sale. At the same time, we encourage the council to explore how this approach might be scalable to provide assistance to other areas of Mountain View beyond Castro Street, such as San Antonio Center, El Camino, or smaller malls and districts where closing a street is not possible. And consider parklets an additional means of expanding the area where they can serve customers. We also advocate for reassessing permits for use, especially downtown to allow businesses more options and flexibility for new income streams, such as renting window displays, providing new services other than therefore and permitted offerings, and parking and traffic restrictions. This is a unique opportunity for us to provide essential support to business doesn't bring new vitality to our downtown. Thank you all so much for your efforts on this.

[02:20:30] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. And next is Quinn Anderson, if you can please admit yourself.

[02:20:39] Quinn Anderson: Hello, um, I'd like to comment on item 6.one if that's okay to do it this time.

[02:20:45] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Um, actually, that is later on, we are on the consent calendar with just all the items under 4 point.

[02:20:52] Quinn Anderson: Oh,

[02:20:53] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: so if you can call back,

[02:20:54] Quinn Anderson: um, all right. I'll do 6.one. That'd be great. Thank you.

[02:20:58] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: We'll go to Celine de Merci. Welcome back, if you can unmute yourself, please, sleep.

[02:21:08] Celine D'Amergy: Hi, yeah, um, I'm Celine D'Amergy. I live on Central Avenue, so just across the street from Castro, and I wanted to speak in support of, uh, for dot 12. I'm also thrilled by it. I think this is such a good idea. Um, so I walked down uh, Castro like all the time and right now, uh, it seems like a lot of the restaurants are at full capacity in terms of their outdoor seating. Like, there's some that only have maybe a few tables, like I'm thinking of the, uh, safe, um, is it Stevens bar? Um, you know, and even like the restaurants with a large amount of capacity are at full capacity. So I think this would be great for local businesses to let them have street dining. It also would help with keeping tables 6 far apart, 6 feet apart right now. It doesn't seem like the restaurants are able to do that. Um, and I think if we allow them to go onto the street. Um, it would be easier for them to keep tables 6 feet apart. So I'm super enthusiastic about 412. I hope it passes, you know, Amazon. Thank you.

[02:22:04] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. Thank you. We'll go to Caitlin Iman. Please and meet yourself, Caitlin. No, no. Uh-oh. Caitlin, are you still on? Oh. Caitlin. Caitlin Nyman? I keep seeing you come up. And then out. Oh, there you go. Caitlin. Can you unmute yourself, please, Caitlin? There you go. You should be on.

[02:22:47] Caitlin Nyman: Sorry, sorry. Sorry, I didn't get that pop to, uh, speak. Um, yeah, I was gonna I wanted to leave a comment for agenda item 6.one. Um, I'm sorry, I was sending an email and I,

[02:22:58] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: yeah, so they're actually on item 4.

[02:23:00] Caitlin Nyman: Great. I have no comment for item four. Thank you.

[02:23:05] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: All right. Anyone else on uh, for public comment on the consent calendar, item four? Uh, Nietcha. Nature, mushroom, mushroom, wala. Is this for item 4? The consent calendar. If so, please unit, there you go.

[02:23:30] Public Speaker: Hi, yes, this is for item 4 uh, specifically 4.12. I would love to be able to support local restaurants and businesses. And I think closing down Castro to allow extra seating to allow pedestrian traffic. That sounds like a great idea, and I'm really excited and looking forward to it. Thank you. I yield my time.

[02:23:51] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. We'll get it. Alex Brown. If you can unmute yourself, Alex.

[02:23:56] Alex Brown: Can try. Is this for just the balance item 4 or all items?

[02:24:02] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: All items, please.

[02:24:03] Alex Brown: Okay. Yeah, I'm also very supportive of having a pedestrian friendly downtown. Uh, I think that the more open squares we have where people can mingle. I mean, you know, other than the whole disease issue is great. I think that we should have that in better times. Uh, I also wanted to talk about the the decoration of the shelter crisis. And I think that this is, uh, we are a long way from solving this and that we need to do more that we have too many people who are struggling with housing and the city is arguing about what funding sources they want to do to build housing inland that we control. While admitting that there is a crisis going on and No, just come on guys. Please, do more. Just do as much as you can. Stop squabbling about like every penny spent and worry more about the impact that you can make. every day, every time that you, like, in every way you can. Thanks.

[02:25:09] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. Any other members in the tendee box wishing to speak, please raise your hand. If not, city clicked. Do we have any other public comments on the consent calendar?

[02:25:24] City Clerk: Yes, ma'am, I have 2 emails here, uh, regarding. 4.12. The 1st is from April Webster. I would like to voice my support for the resolution closing Castro Street and modifying parking restrictions on today's agenda. I think this is wonderful news for our entire community, residents and business owners alike. Thank you very much for hearing our voices. I would like to strongly encourage you to consider transforming some of, oh, sorry, she says, I'm attaching below an email I sent to all council members on this topic 2 weeks ago to add. I would like to strongly encourage you to consider transforming some of Mountain View streets, such as Castor Street, to slow streets for the purpose of creating more safer outdoor recreation space for our community. And many about view's neighborhoods. The sidewalks simply aren't wide enough to safely distance the recommended 6 feet to prevent the transmission of COVID-19. Popular outdoor trails such as Stevens Creek and Permanente Creek, while lovely and popular, are a bit too narrow and crowded to use safely. This reality is already forcing residents onto the streets to compete with cyclists and drivers. While not ideal, it is an option that works. Reducing or closing car traffic along some of these roads would make a safer option. Converting some of our streets to slow streets would not only be a huge benefit to the health and well-being of Mountain View's residents, but it will bring us closer together as a community. I already see the benefits of more people getting out on foot, bike and scooter along the bicycle boulevard between Mountain View and Palo Alto. Neighbors are greeting one another. Signs of encouragement and camaraderie are posted in yards. Families are spending more time together outside. I feel transported back to the small community. I grew up in as a child in the 1980s. It is wonderful and it is a bolster in these confusing and frightening times. I hope you will consider opening up our communities to all of the wonderful benefits slow streets would impart on our city. Thank you April Webster, resident of Mountain View. The next email is from Eugene Cordero, dear Mountain View City Council. Please support our community, including local business and our community by closing Castro to automobile so that we can walk bike and instill social distance while we enjoy our downtown. 2 ideas. I'd recommend that you consider staff recommendation of the food court idea. Ask yourself, when was the last time you went to dinner at a food court? These are impersonal and without the ownership of a single restaurant, they might be neglected in terms of looks and hygiene. Consider providing extra space for individual restaurants so they can maintain everything and support gaining extra wages via tips for essential workers. Please start as soon as possible to help local businesses and employees. You can do it. Let's start on Friday. Best Eugene. And I'm just gonna take one last look. To see if I have received any new emails. It looks like I do have an additional email from Sue Young. I'm writing to express my supportive closing, the 100 to 400 blocks of Castro Avenue for outdoor dining. I'm not comfortable with dining indoors in any restaurant during the COVID-19 pandemic. If given the option for expanded outdoor dining, I would be happy to patronize these businesses so long as people still practice social distancing as advised by the county health department. Thanks for your consideration, Sue Young. That's the last email that I have on this topic.

[02:28:37] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you very much. So, I will close public comment and bring it back to council, and I see. Hansries by Council Medachek. Can you enmate yourself?

[02:28:56] Councilmember Lisa Matichak: Sorry. Um, that was left from before. Did you want to call us in the order that we pulled things?

[02:29:02] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Um, I was gonna ask for emotion on the balance of the consent calendar 1st. Uh, counselor.

[02:29:09] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: happy to do that.

[02:29:11] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Great, thank you. Ramirez, do you have a 2nd?

[02:29:15] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Um, do you want me to read the resolutions or did um, council member, if I want to do that?

[02:29:23] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Oh yes, that's right. There's uh, I was just looking to see which ones had to be read, but go ahead if you're on that page.

[02:29:30] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Okay. Um, I'll go ahead and move the balance of the consent calendar, including item 4.2, adopt an ordinance amending, uh, article 8 of chapter 36 of the Mountain View city code related to tenant relocation assistance to be read entitled only for the reading waived. Uh, 4.8 uh, adopt a resolution, adopting uh, city council policy K dash 25 municipal green building policy to be read entitled only, further reading waived, uh, 4.9, adopt a resolution, approving the final map of tract number, uh, 10519, 2310 Rock Street, accepting dedications and making findings as required by the city code, to be read entitled only further reading wave. Um, 4.11, a resolution, and order of the city council of the city of Mountain View calling, uh, general municipal election, for the purpose of electing 4 members of the city council, requesting the board of supervisors to authorize the register of voters to contract, for election services, authorizing the city clerk to contract, uh, with, uh, the county of Santa Clara pertaining to services, to be performed by the county in connection with the general munic elections to be held on Tuesday, November 3rd, 2020, and related actions to be read entitled only further reading waves, and a resolution adopting a 200 word maximum or a candidate statement of qualifications, and charging each candidate for a fixed share of cost of the printing, handling, translating, and mailing, or the general municipal election to be held on Tuesday, November 3rd, 2020, to be read entitled only further reading waves.

[02:31:20] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: I mean, I make, uh, counselor that, uh, motion by Counselor Ramirez, and if I can council member Metachek, if you would 2nd that, that would be great.

[02:31:31] Councilmember Lisa Matichak: I'll 2nd that.

[02:31:31] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. Any other discussion, customer Clark?

[02:31:36] Councilmember Chris Clark: This one, sorry, Lucas, in 4.2, I just want to clarify that we're amending article 13 of chapter 36, not article 8, Roman numeral thing, just so we don't accidentally amend the wrong article.

[02:31:51] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: My apologies. Um, uh, uh, I accept the correction. I'm sure I've done it many times. Thank you.

[02:31:59] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you, Counselor Clark. Any other discussion on the balance of the consent calendar? If not, uh, could we get a roll call vote, please, city click?

[02:32:10] City Clerk: Council member Clark.

[02:32:11] Councilmember Chris Clark: Yep.

[02:32:12] City Clerk: Council member Hicks.

[02:32:14] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Yes.

[02:32:14] City Clerk: Council member Mattachek.

[02:32:16] Councilmember Lisa Matichak: Yes.

[02:32:17] City Clerk: Council member McAllister.

[02:32:19] Councilmember John McAlister: Yes.

[02:32:19] City Clerk: Council member Ramirez.

[02:32:21] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Yes.

[02:32:22] City Clerk: Bye, Mayor Kamei.

[02:32:24] Vice Mayor Ellen Kamei: Yes,

[02:32:24] City Clerk: May I be Koga?

[02:32:26] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: I, thank you. Thank you. Mission carries 70 with no abstensions. And then on item 4.one, we had the 2 um, recusals from customer required and council member McAllister. Uh, correct?

[02:32:43] City Clerk: And I'm sorry, 4.10. Okay, great. Oh, 4.10, you actually have not done yet.

[02:32:53] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: So, all right, I'm sorry. I heard 4.one, but when we get to 4.10, we'll have the recusals. So 4.6 uh we'll move to that, I believe. Council members, McAllister and Metachek pulled those items. Would you like to speak to them? Yeah either of you. I'll let Council member, Matt, check, go first. That's what I read a check. Would you like to comment?

[02:33:23] Councilmember Lisa Matichak: Sure. on item 4.6 um. I was thinking that it might be good to extend the shelter crisis uh a year at a time. Um, and that's mostly because I, I kind of feel like I would like a trigger to have this topic come back to us so we can kind of do a check in on how things are going. And, um, I view this as kind of a forcing mechanism to make that happen. So I'd be interested in doing the extension of the shelter crisis for a year now. And then in the year we visit it.

[02:34:05] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Okay, did you have comments too? Did you unmute yourself, council member McAllister?

[02:34:16] Councilmember John McAlister: Oh, I hate doing that. Uh, I 2nd her motion and then I think, uh, I think we should allow us to see what happens, tweak it. Because otherwise sometimes we get so busy with what we're doing that we don't always appreciate why we did it in the 1st place. The shelter in crisis, 1st time wasn't for a year or I think or for a less of a time. But it's always good to say. Is it still pertinent one year from now? And it maybe we might want to go into a different direction altogether. So, I would, um, 2nd the motion to go for one year and then revisit it.

[02:34:56] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Uh, count some of my Ramirez.

[02:34:59] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Thank you, mayor. Um, just a question for staff and then a comment based on that. Uh, so, uh, is there any collection of data that will occur, uh, within the next year that will give us a sense of whether we've made any, uh, discernible progress in addressing prices?

[02:35:30] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: Council member Ramirez, I would ask our assistant city manager, Audrey Seymour Ramberg, to help answer that question.

[02:35:40] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: Um, we will not have additional point in time data for homelessness across the county which includes Mountain View. We would likely have additional street by street counts that we do in house. Um, we would also have information regarding the um, utilization of our safe parking, uh, program and potentially updates around the capacity of that program. Um, uh, I imagine that, um, you know, There may be additional information about, um, what's happening in the housing market and what's happening in our community, um, uh, people's housing as a, uh, as an impact from COVID, but there is no other, you know, major study. around homelessness that would be planned within the next fiscal year.

[02:36:38] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Thank, thank you. Appreciate. No, I, um, I don't know if a, if a motion has been made, but uh, I, I won't be supporting it. I'll be supporting the staff recommendation and only because, I, the, the decoration, uh, or sort of the acknowledgment of a shelter crisis is, is simply that, you know, that we have, uh, a homeless population that exceeds the number of shelter beds available to, to meaningfully accommodate it, and, uh, you know, reading through the, the responses to, Uh, questions submitted by the counts of the meeting. I feel like, you know, in the event it were to expire, all we would be doing is depriving ourselves a tool to address the problem. Um, and it's not clear to me, what, what modifications could be made, uh, to, to this declaration that will have, um, that will enhance our ability to, to address the shelter crisis. And I think that the power and the staff recommendation is, is the acknowledgement that, in 2 years, as long. appreciate the frustration there. That's really when we'll know whether we've made a dent in this. We'll have a sense of uh the increase or decrease in homeless population and at only at that time will we truly know if we if we have made progress in providing shelter beds or some other kind of emergency accommodation for for the homeless population um that that will be in mountain view at that time. So I, I, I, I appreciate the intent. Um, you know, maybe maybe there are some modifications that I'm not sort of thinking about, but uh, I think the, the staff recommendation is, is prudent, and I don't, I don't feel that there's a downside in, in allowing us the benefit of, of sort of the tool, the declaration provides us in, in addressing, um, this, this challenging crisis.

[02:38:45] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you, Counselor Hicks.

[02:38:48] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Yeah, I also appreciate the intent was momentarily moved, but I think I would stick to the staff recommendation. I like that it's tied to data. And, um, in addition to that, frankly, our agendas are pretty full, so maybe not have it come up again. But the main reason is that it would be tied to data for decision making.

[02:39:14] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. Any other comments? So, um, Counselor, Magic, was your comment emotion to, um, and extend to June 30th, 2021?

[02:39:29] Councilmember Lisa Matichak: Actually, I didn't make a motion. I expressed my interest in doing it on one year, um, because I think it goes beyond, I guess in my mind, I'm kind of tying multiple things together, and I'm not just relying on the county's point in time survey that they do. To me, it's a question, a much broader question of homelessness in general. Um, and I just viewed this as a forcing mechanism to make sure we have a discussion about homelessness again within a year. And rely on other data and information that we collect ourselves and not just the county data. And I was not proposing any modification to the uh, shelter crisis ordinance. Thank you.

[02:40:16] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Um, so then is there emotion? It could be the staff recommendation motion or a different motion. Counselor Ramirez.

[02:40:30] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Thank you, mayor. I'll go ahead and move the staff recommendation and we'll see where it goes. Uh, so I'll, I'll move to adopt an amendment to resolution number 18301, a resolution of the city of Mountain View declaring a shelter crisis, extending the duration of the declaration until June 30th, 2022 to be read entitled only further reading wave. That's not required, because in a 2nd?

[02:40:57] Unknown Speaker: Yeah, I'll 2nd it.

[02:40:59] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. Any other discussion on the motion, which is the staff recommendation? Well, uh, yes, yes, counselor McCaster.

[02:41:10] Councilmember John McAlister: Well, council member Romero said that the uh, crisis doesn't do anything, but just let us know what the, uh, how many homeless are. I thought there was much more of administrative opportunities once we do determine a shelter in, uh, housing crisis. Could somebody elaborate on that? Because I thought there was more to it than just saying, oh, we have so many homeless in the area. Because our city does their own counts, if I ever call, the police go out on a regular basis with CSA, and so to rely on the county, I don't think is, Oh, is that good, but could somebody explain that there's more to it? than just declaring, there's ramifications to declaring it.

[02:41:59] Assistant City Manager Audrey Seymour Ramberg: Um, having a shelter crisis allows us the flexibility to provide, um, housing, uh, uh, temporary shelter options, um, in ways that, um, are more expedited, um, in particular around our safe parking program being able to, to forego the, um, more extensive, um, conditional use permit process being one example.

[02:42:28] Councilmember John McAlister: Okay. Oh, you know, I did have another question before we get into it. So there was a line in the item about an inadvertent creation of an RV park. Is there any safeguards that we don't do that, that prevents us, that we, uh, unintended, create one. So could someone just bring that up and sort of explain how if one does one that it leads to the other? The crisis yeah.

[02:42:59] City Attorney Krishan Chopra: Um, I'd like to refer that to uh, Nicole Wright.

[02:43:04] Assistant City Attorney Nicole Wright: So good evening, uh, counsel, Nicole Wright, assistant city attorney. Um, yeah, so the. That aspect was included in the staff report, addressing kind of some of the legislation that the city has been pursuing, um, to obtain an exception similar to other cities, including the city of San Jose, the county of Santa Clara, where those, um, those local agencies are expressly exempt from compliance with mobile home parks act, um, uh, special occupancy parks act, and a couple of other related extra mobile home parks and RV parks. Um, and so, that legislation would then, um, basically be the, the failsafe to make it clear that, the city in, uh, in effectuating, uh, temporary homeless shelter or safe parking program would not be subject to those, um, state law requirements.

[02:44:02] Councilmember John McAlister: So where do we sit on that legislation now?

[02:44:09] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: I would like you for that question to assist the city manager, Kimberly Thomas.

[02:44:14] Assistant City Manager Kimberly Thomas: Good evening, there, and city council members. I hope you can hear me well. Uh, yes, that bill is actually, uh, our, we had an original bill that was the city's suggested language that assembly member Berman uh, was kind enough to carry. That bill has shifted and is now a new bill, uh, and that bill will be moving forward under a Sunday member team's leadership. And Berman has also assembly member Berman has also signed onto it. And that is moving through the legislative process at this time. And that will be similar to what the prior legislation was. It's modeled exactly on that, with some modifications, that is currently working through the legislative process and we are monitoring that.

[02:44:55] Councilmember John McAlister: Well, if that passes, would that be retroactive in case we accidentally do certain improvements that sort of constitute a trailer park?

[02:45:04] Assistant City Manager Kimberly Thomas: I do not believe it would be retroactive. That's not currently reflected in the language.

[02:45:10] Councilmember John McAlister: So is there any chance that we, into the words of inadvertently, create a trailer park?

[02:45:16] Assistant City Manager Kimberly Thomas: I think the city, the county, and the nonprofit operator of the city's current programs. Do all that we can, things to not be indicative of a fixed RV park. Uh, there is no rent taken. There's no fixed spaces. There's no utility infrastructure. It's not like a multi-dwelling unit that would normally have a series of services associated with it. And so we do do all that we can to ensure that that case does not happen.

[02:45:46] Councilmember John McAlister: Okay.

[02:45:46] Assistant City Attorney Nicole Wright: And if I might add, as I say, if I might add to that as well, it comes from over McAllister. Also for the 2 city owned and controlled lots, um, we are in contract with the county to provide the safe parking program. And as I mentioned earlier, that the county does have that express, um, exemption from compliance with those various mobile home and RV related acts. Yes, so currently that that offers us that protection for all of the city logs.

[02:46:13] Councilmember John McAlister: Okay, thank you.

[02:46:17] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. So uh, we have a motion in a 2nd. Any other discussion? If not, could we get a roll call vote, please? See clerk?

[02:46:29] City Clerk: What's a member Clark?

[02:46:31] Councilmember Chris Clark: Yeah.

[02:46:32] City Clerk: Council member Hicks.

[02:46:33] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Yes.

[02:46:34] City Clerk: Council member Mattachek.

[02:46:36] Councilmember Lisa Matichak: Yes.

[02:46:37] City Clerk: Council member McAllister.

[02:46:39] Councilmember John McAlister: Yes.

[02:46:39] City Clerk: Council member Ramirez.

[02:46:42] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Yes.

[02:46:42] City Clerk: Hi, Mayor Kamei.

[02:46:44] Vice Mayor Ellen Kamei: Yes,

[02:46:45] City Clerk: Mayor Abby Coca.

[02:46:46] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: I, thank you.

[02:46:48] City Clerk: Thank you. Mission Carrie 70 with no. Abtensions.

[02:46:52] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: We'll go on to, I am 4.10 CIP and I believe I had Councilman Rockellister and Council member Medachek. Well, this item. Did either of you like to speak to it?

[02:47:07] Councilmember John McAlister: Yeah, I'll, I'll, Go 1st if that's okay with, cancel my rheumatic check.

[02:47:12] Councilmember Lisa Matichak: Okay, I get it.

[02:47:14] Councilmember John McAlister: Yeah, I'm looking at some of these projects there, and you know that. I've always been pushing for IT and you know, bringing us into the next century and so forth like that and we're not century, but improving technology as it relates to traffic signals. And broadband. And I'm concerned is that as we continue to look at these traffic signal upgrades, that there's a couple of 2 projects in there, that we don't get full funding, to actually do something, it takes 2 years, to produce the money to exchange a controller. And I was hoping that we can do something to rectify that problem. Because traffic is a concern of the community. The moving forward is, uh, that's a really a slow pace that every 2 years we actually get to change a traffic controller because we don't have the budgets. And I was hoping that we could, uh, revisit those particular dollars going into, approving the situation. And so that's what I was hoping for. So that's, um, so if our public works director is there, she could probably,

[02:48:36] Public Works Director Dawn Cameron: Oh, thank you. Yes, council member McAllister. This is Don Cameron, public works director. Um, generally, you are correct that the amount of money that's put in this annual CIP is not enough to do, let's say, a full change out of a signal systematic intersection. Or put in a new signal. It is enough money if we're just dealing with a controller per se, but it's not a full upgrade. Uh, it is also valuable when we do get grants and other funding sources where we need matching funds and this can provide those matching funds. Having said that, uh, we are um, working on a traffic operation center feasibility that is also looking at the future upgrade needs for our entire signal system to make it smarter and communicate within the traffic operations center. We expect that feasibility study to come out by the end of this year. And the results of it will then be feeding into our next 5 year CIP that we will be working on. So that's the point at which we can bring forward to counsel considerations of making, um, larger investments and more targeted investments into our signal systems and upgrading our our communication systems overall.

[02:49:51] Councilmember John McAlister: Okay, it just seems that I guess a, You know, we just keep going down the same path a little here, a little there. So, um, It's sort of more of a placeholder for the next year.

[02:50:04] Public Works Director Dawn Cameron: Currently, what, yes, what the council is, would be approving, um, now is really allocating, um, adopting the CIP for next fiscal year, fiscal year 2020, 2021. Those future years you see are planned. But they're not formally decided until they're decided one year at a time. And we'll be revisiting all of those future years next year when we do the 5 year CIP.

[02:50:31] Councilmember John McAlister: Okay. And I did write a question, and I just want to make sure, because for 2021, there's proposed, then there's another one that says, there's another line item that says, uh, plan. And so plan for 2021. And that, so everything that we have there are proposed for 2021. I know they're not all getting done. Or, um, Is that correctly what I'm saying that there's something what's planned for 2021, 22? But everything proposed here is going to get done.

[02:51:09] Public Works Director Dawn Cameron: So what will be funded when the council formally adopts the budget in a couple weeks? Will be the projects listed as fiscal year 2020 through 21. Now, projects listed for fiscal year 21 through 20 dash 22 and the next year and the next year are considered planned and they will not be funded at this time.

[02:51:35] Councilmember John McAlister: Okay, thank you.

[02:51:38] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: I checked, did you have comments?

[02:51:40] Councilmember Lisa Matichak: Yeah, and I think, um, Dawn just clarified um, a little bit for me. So, I had concerns about, um, on page 52 of Attachment 4. Um, the streets and sidewalks. So I know I'd ask about this before, and um, I recognize that the, uh, resources going into that category in 2021, um, are higher than previous years, which I appreciate. Um, but then I notice that it drops down um, quite a bit in the years beyond that. And this is why I had asked for the information by funding source. Because often when I say I'd like to increase that and I suggest projects that could potentially be pushed out. Um, often they're funded from a different source and so it doesn't help. Um, so I, I, in some ways, I guess, um, you can cancel that request. And we don't need to do it because we're only approving the next fiscal year. But it would be helpful in future discussions to have that tool so that we could make trade-offs if we want to. Thanks.

[02:53:07] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. Any other comments on 4.10. And if not, um, also entertain emotion. Sorry by Counselor McAllister, is there a 2nd?

[02:53:27] City Attorney Krishan Chopra: You know, we would. We need the. Yeah, I'm sorry. It would probably be better if one of the non-conflicted, uh, Council members made motion and and we do have to read both of the captions.

[02:53:43] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: So, yes, uh, cancel Ramirez, would you mind doing the honors?

[02:53:47] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Sure, no problem. Uh, so I'll move uh, item 4.10, adopt a resolution, approving the proposed amendment to the El Camino Real bike improvements, design, project 20 dash, dash, 61, identified in the fiscal years, 201920 through 20, uh, 23 to 24 capital improvement program to be read in title only, further reading waived, adopt a resolution, approving the proposed fiscal year, 2022 to 21 capital improvement program, including The remainder amendments to existing projects, excluding the shoreline regional park community, to be read entitled only further reading waves, uh, and adopt a resolution approving the proposed fiscal year 2020 to 21 capital improvement program for the shoreline regional park community, including the amendments to existing projects to be read, entitled only further reading waves, and just, uh, a quick comment. I appreciated staffs, um, uh, response to the question about, uh, the Latham and Church, um, uh, bike bed improvements and, uh, personally, uh, excited to see what, uh, what comes out of, um, that, that investigation. I think uh the slow streets program has been something that the community's interested in. So I'm I'm grateful to staff uh investigating that.

[02:55:09] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. Vice mayor. Do you have a 2nd

[02:55:13] Vice Mayor Ellen Kamei: Yes,

[02:55:14] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: any comments? No comments? All right. Thank you. Counselor McAllister?

[02:55:20] Councilmember John McAlister: Yeah, well Mr. Ramirez brought up an item. Council voted on that and voted it no. So why is staff? Going against council vote to re... agendize this item and actually put it on a consent calendar?

[02:55:43] City Staff: Uh, there were many aspects about the potential bike boulevard improvements that, um, council members expressed concern about. Some of them were things like removing stop signs. Others where do we add speed bumps and so on. Um, the reason why staff is suggesting that we could bring this forward in terms of focusing just on the diverters, is in response to both community requests and counsel requests that we look at, um, some slow streets, um, programs and projects, and this is when we had previously studied and saw a need for, uh, reducing traffic volumes if we really want to make it safer and more convenient and encourage bicycling. On on this cord or. Uh, we are planning to bring the concept. This would be a quick build pilot project to council for consideration. Yes, we were talking about putting it on consent. Uh, however, um, That could be reconsidered or council could choose to pull it from consent if you would like to discuss it. But it is one of the, one of the ideas staff came up with to respond to some of those, uh, community requests that we look into certain things like this.

[02:57:01] Councilmember John McAlister: Okay, I'm concerned. That, uh, I just, it's just, I'm confused that that council makes a vote. Staff reconsiders it. So, uh, we can take that later on, but that's, that's a concern in mine, because we said you presented everything. And then the council said, no at that time. And so, but okay, I'll bring that up later on. That's another matter check.

[02:57:28] Councilmember Lisa Matichak: Yeah, I would add, um, since it was brought up that I share those concerns. I feel like we had a long discussion about this at a council meeting. And the council, um, decided on which elements of, uh, the bike boulevard we wanted and which ones, uh, we were not supportive of. And so, um, I felt like it was council's role to bring that back, um, rather than staff's role to bring it back. Um, and I especially um, am concerned about having it on the consent calendar. And it is more of a discussion than that, but I actually, if we're going to talk about slow straits, rather than just talk about one, I think we should have, um, if we're going to have a broader discussion, then okay, but to just pick one project that we've already talked about just didn't feel right to me.

[02:58:19] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. That's where McAllister, did she have more comments?

[02:58:24] Councilmember John McAlister: Yeah, I would like to mention that it did come to the council transportation committee beforehand. And they voted on it and they did not approve it. They did not recommend going forward with it. So if there is going to bring it revisited, I would hope it goes through the CTC. So that it gets a hearing that appropriate needs.

[02:58:46] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Any other comments? On the motion. If not, can we have a roll call book, please, city clerk?

[02:58:56] City Clerk: Council member, Clark.

[02:58:58] Councilmember Chris Clark: Yeah, just noting my recusal on the 1st recommended item.

[02:59:01] City Clerk: Yes, thank you. Council member Hanks.

[02:59:04] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Yes.

[02:59:05] City Clerk: Council member Mattachek.

[02:59:07] Councilmember Lisa Matichak: Yes.

[02:59:08] City Clerk: Council member McAllister.

[02:59:11] Councilmember John McAlister: Uh, okay, if Chris is refusing himself, is it the same issue that I have to refuse myself on?

[02:59:18] City Attorney Krishan Chopra: Yes, it's 4.10, the 1st resolution.

[02:59:21] Councilmember John McAlister: Okay. I'll go along. Okay.

[02:59:26] City Clerk: Council member Ramirez?

[02:59:28] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Yes.

[02:59:29] City Clerk: Council member? I sorry, Vice Mayor Kame?

[02:59:31] Vice Mayor Ellen Kamei: Yes.

[02:59:33] City Clerk: Mayor Abi Koga.

[02:59:34] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: I,

[02:59:35] City Clerk: thank you. Evolution carry 70 with 2 abstensions on the 1st resolution in the item for 10.

[02:59:45] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. So we go on to 4.12 regarding the, um, Temporary closing of Castro Street. Uh, let's see, I think I had also a council member, McAllister, and then comments by council member, Six.

[03:00:04] Councilmember John McAlister: Like, I'll, uh, you know, I, I support the idea of closing Castro Street. What I found, um, I was a little con- I am concerned about that we're funding the seating, and the tables, and that we don't have a dollar amount for this. And, um, To me, that's always, you know, if we're right now we're in a financial, uh, could be turning into a financial pickle. And what happens if this, what are we going to do with this equipment afterwards? Are we going to sell it or who knows what we're going to do? So. I always am hesitant of approving something without knowing there's a dollar amount attached to it. And uh, I also asked them the staff questions, counsel questions about. Can we look at, is this the time to look at improving our sidewalk dining, or maybe even if this plaza study kills forward, that we reverse the sidewalk with the dining and that we extend the sidewalks and the dining is closer to the building, and the sidewalks are extended out to the street. So, Maybe someone can answer, sort of give us a ballpark pricing on this, or how they expect to move forward with this. Please.

[03:01:23] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: Uh, so one of the reasons we do have a cost estimate yet is we're trying to be very creative in keeping the costs down and we've been exploring options to borrow tables and as opposed to having an expense. For instance, uh, and and our, um, our economic develop, business development person. Tiffany Chu's been very active and that can speak a little further to it. If I miss any opportunities, but for instance, we have a school district that's already agreed to loan as 20 pick tables. And we have some other sources that are talking about it and picnic tables could work very well in this situation and be very conducive to outdoor dining and, you know, we're limited at no more than 6 people at a particular table. Um, we have other places we reached out to to our uh, tables and chairs. Um, One option we have is that if we can't get enough tables and chairs through borrowing is we would then explore possibly renting some, uh, so that we don't access stables and chairs afterwards, or if it's more cost efficient to own them. Uh, We would love to take more time to fully explore, put all of these pieces in place, work out all the logistics. However, we're very cognizant that the public health order did change quickly. And our businesses and our restaurants are allowed to start outdoor dining as of last Friday. And very few of them have actual space right now that they can do that. I was on Castro today. And it's just a few of them, and until, so, as staff, we moved this forward more quickly than we had originally planned to you because we needed your approval to close the street, change the parking restrictions. But it is true. We still have a large team just met today that's still working on all the various details. And our goal is to try to open this up as soon as possible with council support. Um, but I also want to note that one of our mantras on this is we're not going to get it perfect. Uh, this is a pilot. We've never done this before. So we're working hard on flexibility. Uh, you know, we'll get the tables out there. We'll get the barricades set up. We'll get certain signage set up. We're working with the restaurants and partnerships and they're prepared to help provide the staffing necessary to bust the tables, keep them clean. Uh, we're still working on a lot of those details. And something may not work. And after a week or 2 we may need to switch things up, move things around. We may need more tables or fewer tables, and that's part of what we're asking council to trust staff with, is to, um, let us put this out as quickly as we can in a way we think we'll really support the businesses downtown. And that we may need to make adjustments as we go and we want to be able to be nimble and flexible and do that.

[03:04:29] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: You use Dan Richwards nimble, so I gotta trust you. Any other comment? Oh, was it Counselor or Magic or I'm sorry? Council member Hicks? We had some comics, huh? Hicks, is that right?

[03:04:43] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Yeah. So, um, Staff and council have said much of what I was going to say already, I was, I was just going to pull this to call attention for the public because of course, as a, it's uh, rather, bureaucratically written, then we have a, a tremendous amount of interest from the public. Um, on this particular item. So I just want, it seems like people have noticed that it's there from the public comments, but I also wanted to commend staff for working on this so quickly and acknowledge that it's a pilot program. My son goes to college in Madison, Wisconsin, and they have a very similar sort of operation running and it works really well. I think it, I think it can really, particularly because we've been sheltered and distant from each other so much in addition to uh, pulling the, hopefully getting the restaurants back open that by. I think it's an opportunity to build, build community and see each other, even if maybe with masks on. Um, see each other more often and, um, And, you know, build these are the kinds of things that build mental health and happiness as well. So I, again, wanted to commend staff. I also appreciated the comments from the Chamber of Commerce. I know they're working on a lot of other things as a staff on, um, you know, making our allowing our downtown to come to reopen and hopefully be even more successful than before. Um, I did. I do like the idea that the cross streets are still open because I think that's one of the things that makes our city function. And I would like some attention to detail in terms of, um, I think our, our streets now prohibit, Castro Street now prohibits bikes so that pedestrians can, can really be a pedestrian oriented place. I'm just hoping that not too many vehicles or alternative vehicles, robots and bicycles are running into each other, and that it really works for tables and pedestrians. But again, I wanted to commend staff for working on this very quickly.

[03:06:53] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. Council member Clark.

[03:07:01] Councilmember Chris Clark: Going to make a motion if that's okay. We adopt a resolution temporarily for sending a designated parking and designating parking restrictions and prohibitions pursuant to Mountain View City Code chapter 19. Contemporary closing, the 100, 20, 30, 400 blocks of Castro Street, motor vehicle traffic, pursue it, to California vehicle code, section 21101 to be read in title only for the reading way to touch one on the council report, and if the city attorney thinks it's okay, I'll add a 2nd part to the motion, which is that we continue past 10 PM when we're done with it, since we haven't made it yet to our communications in a 1005.

[03:07:40] City Attorney Krishan Chopra: Sure, that's, that's fine. That's fine.

[03:07:44] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. I appreciate your adding that. Counselor Clark. Vice mayor committee.

[03:07:52] Vice Mayor Ellen Kamei: It's just a second.

[03:07:54] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. Any other discussion on this item? In fact, can we get a roll call, please?

[03:08:01] City Clerk: Council member Clark.

[03:08:03] Councilmember Chris Clark: Yeah.

[03:08:03] City Clerk: Council member Hicks.

[03:08:05] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Yes,

[03:08:06] City Clerk: council member Mattachek.

[03:08:08] Councilmember Lisa Matichak: So sorry, I didn't get my hand raised in time. I do have a quick question. Um, the 2nd part of that motion? Uh, isn't the rule starting a new topic after 10 o'clock? Not just continuing past. So does that mean since we have several more topics, all of them will be done? Or just, do we do this for each one?

[03:08:32] Unknown Speaker: I think it's just that we move to the next thing. We can still adjourn at any time if we want.

[03:08:37] City Attorney Krishan Chopra: Yeah, I believe it is, uh, technically starting a new, uh, new item after 10, uh, I would maybe recommend just keep this motion to this, uh, uh, this item 4.12 and then, uh, have a new, new motion to continue on past 10 is probably the cleanest way. And then, at thereafter, that would be for, uh, public comment on non-agendas items, and 6.2, and at any time, the council can, uh, a council member can make a later motion, uh, before the opening of the next item after 6.2. That's probably the best way to proceed.

[03:09:29] Unknown Speaker: Oh, we'd have to go back to our roll call vote then on item. It's within me just item 4.12. correct?

[03:09:38] City Attorney Krishan Chopra: Yeah, y'all just.

[03:09:40] Councilmember Chris Clark: Oh, I'll just amend my motion to do. I was trying to save it some time, but I'll just amend my motion to be 4.12 as I previously stated, and we'll take a separate motion to continue.

[03:09:52] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: And by smear, can I, are you all right with that as a secondary? All right. Thank you, city clerk, if you could start restart the will call book, please.

[03:10:01] City Clerk: Council member Clark.

[03:10:03] Councilmember Chris Clark: Yeah.

[03:10:03] City Clerk: Council member Hicks.

[03:10:05] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Yes.

[03:10:05] City Clerk: Council member Mattachek.

[03:10:07] Councilmember Lisa Matichak: Yes.

[03:10:08] City Clerk: Council member McAllister.

[03:10:10] Councilmember John McAlister: Yes.

[03:10:11] City Clerk: Council member Ramirez.

[03:10:13] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Yes.

[03:10:14] City Clerk: Vice Mayor Kme.

[03:10:15] Vice Mayor Ellen Kamei: Yes.

[03:10:16] City Clerk: Abby Koga.

[03:10:18] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: I,

[03:10:18] City Clerk: thank you. Thank you, Mission Carrie, 70. Attentions.

[03:10:24] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Counselor Clark, would you like to make your next notion?

[03:10:28] Councilmember Chris Clark: Oh, yeah, I'll move that we continue past 10 PM, knowing that we can always, um, make a motion later to either adjourner, continue whatever items we need to continue.

[03:10:39] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: I'm going to go ahead and 2nd that or I say or would you like to 2nd that? All right, any discussion on this? If not, wait, could we get a roll call book, please?

[03:10:48] City Clerk: Council member Clark.

[03:10:51] Councilmember Chris Clark: Yeah.

[03:10:51] City Clerk: Council member Hicks.

[03:10:53] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Yes.

[03:10:54] City Clerk: Council member Matichek.

[03:10:56] Councilmember Lisa Matichak: Yes.

[03:10:56] City Clerk: Council member McAllister.

[03:10:58] Councilmember John McAlister: You know me. No.

[03:11:02] City Clerk: Count You threw me off, council member. I can't remember Ramirez.

[03:11:07] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Yeah.

[03:11:07] City Clerk: Vice Mayor Kamei.

[03:11:10] Vice Mayor Ellen Kamei: Yes.

[03:11:12] City Clerk: Mayor Madi, Mayor Abi Koga.

[03:11:14] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Hi.

[03:11:15] City Clerk: And Yakubation Carey 61 and no possessions on this item.

[03:11:20] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: So we will continue to item 5 all communications. This portion of the meeting is reserved for persons wishing to dress the council on any matter not on the agenda. Speakers are allowed to speak on any topic for up to 3 minutes. I'm going to make it one. 5 this evening due to the amount of public comment we've been receiving state law prohibits the council from acting on not, uh, non-agenda items. But any member of the public on the line like to provide comment on a non-agenda item. If so, if you're in the attendee box, please raise your hand. And if you are on the phone, please press star 9. And I have, uh, let's see, right. You'd like to start unmute yourself.

[03:12:03] Public Speaker: Start. Can hear me?

[03:12:07] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Yes.

[03:12:09] Public Speaker: Okay. Um, about 4 years ago, Annie Lawman sued the MVPD with allegations of sexual misconduct. So that would be voice reported that she said, she's Max Boswell, and other officers encouraged conduct, including lewd jokes, nudity, and simulated sexual acts, and then retaliated against the plaintiff when she complained. Someman alleges Boswell personally made unwanted sexual advances towards her. I'd like to take this time to ask the council whether they find it appropriate, that this man has been in the police chief for 4 years in a position of authority over others. He has pressured people under him to engage in sexual activities with him in the past. The person who finds abhorrent that he can still hold this position of extreme power when he's made sexual advances to people below him in the past. They wanted to request a direct response after this from police chief puzzle because this is not something that should or can be ignored. I yield my time.

[03:12:57] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. Moving on to paying lady. Please unmute yourself.

[03:13:04] Ping Lee: Hello?

[03:13:05] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Hi there. Welcome.

[03:13:06] Ping Lee: Hi, hi. Okay, so hi, city council. My name is Ping Lee. She her hers. I'm bound to view resident. Thank you for your leadership through COVID-19 and your commitment to protecting normal populations and proving the quality of life for current and future generations. As we are aware of the impact and risk of the pandemic, and ongoing climate change threads affect us differently. And it's proportionally burdened vulnerable communities. Widespread specific engagement responding to systemic injustice and the global public health crisis highlight the importance to move forward with targeted investments in life affirming and health enhancing programs. Thus, I like to impress upon the council the enormous value of our local urban trees. I sincerely urge council to consider expanding investment in urban forcy programming. Urban forests are our greatest natural assets between the foothills and the San Francisco Bay. Local canopy growth positively affects all of us. Trees produce oxygen, cleaner air, and surf carbon. They're crucial in fighting climate change and reducing the urban heat island effect. During past COVID-19, tree lined streets and parks encourage active living and improve our physical health. Local trees offer access to nature, which boosts our mental health. Rumble populations are a community, need these benefits the most. Therefore, urban treaties matter now more than ever in the amount of viewing community, especially to advance environmental justice and equity, to ensure everyone's access to environmental protections in extremely hot days, and to protect nearby nature that will bolster mental and physical health. In closing, my hope is that we continue to go to the canopy and show that everyone across Mountain View thrives among resilient urban forests. Thank you.

[03:14:47] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. We do next to Jack Device. Please unmute yourself.

[03:14:55] Jack Jeffries: Hi there. Jeffries. I'm with the Mountain View coalition for police reform. Um, we're calling for a hearing before June 23rd to establish an independent and fully open commission and review the funding and policies of the Mountain View Police Department. Public support for this is very clear from all the messaging that we had at the beginning of this. So I think we're all really excited to be involved in this with you guys. This is a collaborative effort between the community, our amazing Mountain View community and you guys, the police department. It's clearly the right thing to do. Mountain View is one of the top 10 police departments in the state, but we're not graded on a curve. So that's nowhere near good enough. We should be the best by and far the best. We should have an A rating, and we can make that happen. Uh, we need fundamental policing reforms. We need residents to lead the process. We're a community led independent visioning process, and that's why we need to have a hearing on this so that we can be an official part of the discussion. Thank you. I yield my time.

[03:15:59] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. Going on to Alison Krimsby. Please, commute yourself. Welcome.

[03:16:13] Alison Krimsby: Uh, can you hear me?

[03:16:14] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Yes, welcome.

[03:16:17] Alison Krimsby: The fact that all council members are ignoring the racism present everywhere in America is simply reprehensible. We don't need your shock because that means you aren't paying attention to what's happening. The racial bias of police extends even to the mountain view forest, and this is unacceptable. By defunding the police, we would allocate money towards community services like social workers that would alleviate the need for police intent situations and work to eliminate racial bias from our society. Additionally, by simplifying issues to racism is bad, like Mayor Abby Koga did, it provides a very black and white view of things and draws uncertainty to your understanding of racism. Since you claim to be against it, yet support and increase the amount of money you give to the police department over time. I yield my time.

[03:16:59] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you next week, go to Yuanlu. Unmute yourself, please.

[03:17:10] Yuanlu: Oh, sorry. Uh, okay, I have 2 uh, recommendations. One is to improve searchability. Of electronic documents, case in hand, the search, ethic code, in Mountain View, let's talk. returns a single document about environment from 2017, a mountain view.gov, except 2 documents about employee performance review. How the return documents are also related to environment. Related to ethic code. I want the city to adopt the social, the societal axiom. Those who held higher power must be held to higher ethical standards. So one concrete action, I would like the city to adopt. Given the serious injustice caused by the doctrine of qualified immunity, police brutality, and other court cases around the country. I would like to see the city, to pledge not to invoke this doctrine in cases, against city employees till meaningful legal reform is achieved, to be more actionable, pledge, not to invoke this doctrine for 3 years, renewable upon review thereafter. Thank you at your time.

[03:18:25] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you, we'll go to LA Green. Could please unmute yourself?

[03:18:32] Ellie Green: Hello, um, I just want to reiterate. I come from the Mountain View coalition for police reform. And we're currently at an impasse. I believe, with everything that's been discussed right now, because from what I saw earlier in the discussion, surrounding city council. Members of your community brought up very clear points. We asked for a forum with which to discuss the issues that are rampant in our community. We asked for a hearing, not demanding. Action, but asking for the opportunity to express ideas. And yet I heard the council not only not respond to any of that. But brush it off. And that's concerning to see. It's concerning to see, the city council doesn't seem to care, and I don't want to go as far as that you are willfully ignorant of all of the issues in our community. But, That's what seems to be happening. And so I'm asking you, city council, you are our elected officials. You are supposedly the representative of our community. Represent us, support us, give us a forum with which to discuss our ideas, our issues, our feelings, our rage, our betrayal. Everything that comes with all of these issues. needs to be addressed and discussed. And this needs to be discussed and run by the community. This is a community issue. This isn't a police department issue. This isn't a, we'll just let the police department figure it out. This is a, this needs to come back to the people. This needs to come back to your citizens. You are our representatives, represent us, represent our beliefs and ideas. I'm asking you to take action on what we've asked for on a hearing before. June 23rd. That's our simple ask, just a forum for dedicated, structured, constructive discussion. And I hope you'll stand with us. So thank you and I yield my time to the chair.

[03:20:36] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. Oh, going on to Kelsey, Joseph. They send mute yourself.

[03:20:44] Kelsey Joseph: Hi.

[03:20:46] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Ms. Kelsey.

[03:20:47] Kelsey Joseph: Um, Ellie's speech just now was very powerful and said a lot of what I was going to say in a more eloquent way than I think I can, but basically, I was very disappointed to hear the amount of flip service paid to. Making things better without actually responding to any of the things we asked for, which are about involving us in the decision since we, the citizens of Mountain View, or the people who are actually affected by policing policies. You know the police are going to treat you guys great because you are all city council members and they know that. And so you need to listen to us who are not shielded by that armor. And especially listen to the people who don't have the privilege that many of us speaking to you do. And, In short, like everyone has been saying, we'd like to hear, we'd like to have a public hearing, and we would like to have a community review oversight system of some kind. So community can actually be involved and have this be a give and take process rather than just something that is imposed upon us. Thank you.

[03:22:00] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Well, go on to Dana P. Please unmute yourself. Dana? Oh, Data, yes. You unmute yourself, please?

[03:22:15] Dana Petey: Hi there. thank you so much. This is Dana Petey again from the Mountain View Coalition for Police Reform. First of all, I want to thank Councilman McAllister for his invitation to meet with me. I will definitely be in touch soon to take you up on that offer. Thank you. Um, honestly, I do have to say, it was pretty hard to see council members wring their hands and hear them say that they feel the weight of this conversation and wonder what to do and wonder how to pursue this conversation and wonder what the ongoing conversations could look like and say tonight that, yes, you don't have all the answers. And honestly, none of us have all the answers. So that's why we've been really clear. on the need for another meeting where perhaps the community can discuss some of these answers at a future date before June 23rd. Public comments tonight have been so clear about our asks. We asked for a community hearing before June 23rd, and we asked for an independent community led coalition for police reform. 2 things. A hearing before June 23rd. I say it again in case you need to write it down. A hearing before June 23rd, and a commission led by the community for oversight on the police department. Perhaps we can discuss that more at the hearing before June 23rd. In case you were wondering what answers we might be looking for or how to continue this conversation. I think that's a pretty clear way to continue the conversation, and if you have goodwill in this conversation, hopefully that's a place in a way that we can continue it. Thank you.

[03:23:44] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Next, we go to Sadie Carlson. Please unmute yourself.

[03:23:50] Sadie Carlson: Hi, thank you for letting me speak. I spoke earlier where I shared a very painful story of a friend who is assaulted by MP PD on a high school campus. And I would like to address the lack of a response by the council acknowledging the claims that me and other members of the Mountain View coalition, asked for regarding a public hearing before the 23rd. This hearing is incredibly important so that we can have increased participation of the community to express our invaluable perspectives on how the community needs to address this issue. Um, Furthermore, there was a call for a community or a community led committee. It's important that this is led by the community is not, and is not a subcommittee, barely of, um, the city. And this community led committee, will enable us to gather these ideas, talk about them, and also come up with real and better research solutions for the city of Mountain View. So I just want to reiterate, that is a community, a public hearing before the 23rd, and a public community led, Committee. Thank you. build my time.

[03:25:09] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Welcome next to Quinn Anderson, please unmute yourself.

[03:25:14] Quinn Anderson: Hello. Although I'm not a citizen in Mountain View. I am a student at Mountain View High School, so I get to see the effects of the city budget every single day. And this budget with $42000000 being allocated to that Mountain View Police Department every year is incredibly disappointing and honestly harrowing because harrowing is having a panic attack at my school and being sent to talk to the janitor instead of a counselor. Harrowing is self referring at the lowest point in my life in which I had been self harming and being told that I cannot set up a meeting with the counselors unless I wish to be pulled out of class to do so. Heroing is knowing that as a sophomore, only students that take the AP com class get to experience a race unit meant to educate us about the horrors of a world generally regarded by the public as post-race. And finally, harrowing are the peers around me that even in a so-called progressive Bay Area, use slurs like they breathe them like air and call my friends homophobic slurs for wearing nail polish. I call upon you to consider the importance of the education budget over brute force. We do not need to stop crimes for a better quality of life. We need a better quality of life to stop crimes. Show me that you care about the use. Show me that I will be protected and prove to me that I am safe in this city. I yield my time.

[03:26:32] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Any other members of the public wishing to speak? in the 10 D box, please raise your hand. If not, I'm going to go to our city crypt. Do we have any other, uh, Or communications on non-agenda items?

[03:26:49] City Clerk: See, I mean, we have. One email, um, that's indicated for item 5, um, the subject matter, uh, looks like it is similar to the presentation under 3.one. Would you like me to go ahead and read it? Um, I believe the speaker may have spoken under, um, 3.one as well. Um, Actually, I can't easily confirm that, but, um, she's indicated that it was for, um, item five.

[03:27:25] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: That's fine if you could just read it. That'd be great. Thank you.

[03:27:27] City Clerk: This is from Charlotte Quinn. For days on end, sometimes 100s at a time. People have been taking to the streets of Mountain View demanding major changes to public safety in the police department budget. Now's your chance to show you've been listening to the people and that you care about black lives and care about actually confronting the ingrained issues and policing, which Mountain View is not immune to. Training is not sufficient in the least. A black man who trains San Jose cops on de-escalation and implicit bias was named by the very cops he trains while trying to de-escalate their violence. You need to decriminalize nonviolent crimes, especially those which are poverty induced, such as rolling in vehicles, homelessness, and trying to meet basic needs. George Floyd was murdered for trying to get food. Cops should not be, should not be how a hungry person is responded to, or an unsheltered person is responded to. You need to change fines to be scaled by income. So they actually deter the very wealthy, which Mountain View has many of them and do not overburden the poor. A ticket can mean not making rent or not eating enough. The people are asking for changes to schools and mental health services, which may fall outside of the city council's immediate control. Please do not shred them off. push these changes at the county level. Commit money to supporting the county level services. And make it so a cop isn't who is called to where someone's experiencing a mental crisis. Stipulate that Mountain View money for school districts is contingent on no cops on campus and more counselors. If you can't figure out how to transition public safety away from policing, then take PD money and please hire people who can. Thank you, Charlotte. That's from Charlotte Quinn. Um, that's the only um, item I have for item five.

[03:29:04] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Great. Thank you. I will close item 5 then. And we will move on to item 6 public hearing 6.one. We have a public hearing for fiscal year 2020, 2021 because that's it and I have 1st staff presentation. Our city manager, Kimber McCarthy in finance and administrative services director, Jesse Takahashi. Welcome.

[03:29:27] Finance and Administrative Services Director Jesse Takahashi: Thank you, mayor, council members. I'm going to be sharing my screen here. One moment. Okay. So good evening, everyone. Um, tonight I'll be discussing the city's proposed budget for fiscal year 2021. And I want to acknowledge 1st before we start that everything we've heard about. This has certainly been an unprecedented time for the city and many cities in our area, the nation, the entire world, due to the financial impacts of COVID-19. And over the last few months, city staff have pivoted quickly to respond to this crisis. And we are adapting to the changes on a daily basis while continuing to serve the community at the highest standard. Even amidst these crises. I am glad to be able to present a balanced budget to you tonight for fiscal year 2021 where the city can maintain current service levels next fiscal year with sufficient revenues to fund operating expenses and other priorities. I do want to highlight the budget development process and timeline that we go through to get to this point tonight. So, It starts clear back in December. So this is around a six, 7 month process. And really it ramped up through February of this year. In February, the mid-year budget report was presented to council, along with an update on council's goals in the work plan, and this was prior to COVID-19, and just, uh, one month later after that, uh, state of emergency was declared, and then a week after that on March 17th, the countywide shelter and place order began. So, essentially, all of the work that had been done for several months really had to be re-looked at over the course of April and May. We had to assess our revenues, assess our expenditures, and also, um, assess our department budget request to make sure that they were in line with our uh, new revenue expectations. So tonight, council has the opportunity to examine the budget followed by adoption of the budget on the 23rd. The economic impacts of COVID-19 have been unparalleled, and it continues to remain uncertain. Since the pandemic began. At the time of this presentation and staff report. There were almost 390000 Americans that had lost their jobs and filed for unemployment benefits. And that includes almost 5000000 Californians. And the unemployment rate climbed in April 2020 based on information from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. So that's where the information on this chart came from. And just to give you the sheer volume of the change in such a short amount of time, just in the US alone from April to May, 3.7% unemployment to almost 15%. And even as of today, it's being debated whether that rate is actually hovering around 20% right now. Statewide, we've gone from 4% to 15.5%. And even in Mountain View, we've gone from one. 9% to 6.one%. So you can really see that spike. We've also had businesses close and 1000s of residents that have lost their jobs. So really what, what this illustrates is, is the uncertainty that we have ahead of us, um, not only in terms of the economic outlook, but also what is going to happen from the shelter and place order being modified. I do want to highlight the city's response to the crisis because over these last few months, we have pivoted quickly to respond to it and continuing to really try and serve the vulnerable population. Um, and those residents who need the most help and also really trying to innovate and be more efficient with how we're delivering service to our community and also getting really good outcomes. So just a couple of the things that I wanted to highlight include, um, the fact that we've done a lot of automated, um, and innovations in terms of technology, everything from implementing or going through the process of implementing a paperless permitting process and digital plan review to offering virtual recreation classes. I mentioned the automatic pedestrian recall buttons in my COVID-19 update earlier. We have around 400 plus employees that are working from home doing all of this work. Uh, we also have redeployed staff to help nonprofit. So we are continuing to do a lot of work. Um, I will mention soon, um, the efforts that we've made in relation to helping our homeless residents and those that are unstably housed. We have also partnered with the county, as I mentioned before, to provide testing services, were really focusing on our multilingual outreach program efforts with our Spanish language community members and also our Chinese and Russian community members. And making sure that they're aware of all of the resources that are available to them and everything that we're doing here in the county as well. Or excuse me, in the city as well. Um, I also want to talk about what we have done to help the community and this is really a snapshot to show over the last few months, um, just the level of support that Mountain View has provided. So in total, we've provided a little over $4000000 of relief funding, and that includes 260000000 to the rent relief program that is helping people that are unable to pay their rent. Uh, we've put over half a $1000000 into small business relief efforts. Um, $100,000 and setting up a utility bill relief program, $100,000 to safe parking program, over a 100,000 in, um, hygiene services and grocery gift cards. Uh, we've also worked with Hope's Corner and the school districts to look at um, Wi-Fi options for students. We've also provided rechargeable power banks, um, so that students who are homeless or who are unstably housed can have um, electrical outlets and resources to charge their phones and laptops. So we've really focused on helping the community and really enacting measures that are intended to help all segments of the community. The 5 primary budget priorities that have really guided, the fiscal year 2021 budget are detailed on this slide. And they really encompass providing that essential services that I just mentioned to the community. And this will continue over the next several months. So, as we move out of the shelter in place and as things evolve, staff will continue to provide services to the most vulnerable residents and be looking at different programs and initiatives and places where we can partner, um, to help in those community response efforts to the pandemic. We're also working on our own operations and recovery once the shelter in place order is modified. We also have a very specific focus on our economic development efforts and our small business strategy efforts. And this is really, um, see that with Castro Street closing. And this is really one of our top priorities to make sure that our small businesses are taken care of and heard and we're working with them and partnering with them. And just really making sure that we are keeping the vibrancy and the vitality of our small businesses in town. Another area that is really a big focus of the budget is our public communications and engagement and community building, which we've been talking about a lot this evening. And I think we have a lot more opportunities for that in the weeks and months to come. And that is already built into this budget with a specific focus on strategic planning for the future. And building a strategic plan and visioning process that really involves where the city is and where the city wants to be and how we deliver services to the community. So those are the areas that are a big focus of the budget in addition to council's major goals. And at this point, I'd like to turn it over to our finance and administrative services director, Jesse Takahashi, to discuss the budget in more detail.

[03:38:24] Finance and Administrative Services Director Jesse Takahashi: Thank you very much, Kim. I'm gonna see if we can, um, pop out their screens here. Okay. So, uh, the next uh, what I plan to deal with the next series of slides is to uh, go over some high-level information as far as uh, total city, um, revenues, expenditures, uh, and then focus a little bit more on the general operating fund, uh, and then finish up, uh, covering some of the non-general fund, um, other major funds uh, of the city. Um, to give you an overview of what is being proposed. So this 1st slide represents uh, all of the funds for the cities at uh, $342 million. And, um, as you can see, there's a variety of different funds that this is broken up into. The general fund is the largest of all of the city's funds. is the main operating account. Um, and this is estimated at $144.200000 and it represents about 42% of the, um, total city budget. Let's see, we can go. That going?

[03:39:44] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: Jesse, I'm controlling the PowerPoint. So I'm following you.

[03:39:48] Finance and Administrative Services Director Jesse Takahashi: All right. Next slide please. On the proposed expenditures. Uh, this is our next um, chart. And as you can see, this has all funds being shown. Uh, total expenditures of $346.7 million. And, um, from this budget is funded all of the programs and services that is provided by the city to the community. And again, the general fund is the largest, um, of those. And that is represented by the largest blue segment at 144.one, uh, $1000000 Uh, and then you can see the other uh, areas of how money is spent uh, by various fund types. Next slide. It's on. I got it back. Thank you. Our next line is, uh, a look at now just the general operating fund. So as I mentioned, the general operating fund is the single largest city. It does provide for funding of most of the core services of the city or police fire, public work, recreation library, some of the planning, and city administrative functions. The city does maintain fiscally prudent budgeting practices. It balances operating or ongoing revenues with ongoing expenditures, and adopts structurally balanced operating budgets. For the last, several fiscal years, the city did experience, very strong revenue growth with larger than normal net operating balances. Um, which allowed that the city to address infrastructure needs and some of its unfunded liabilities. The situation has helped the city to weather the revenue losses that are currently estimating this fiscal year. Although it is difficult to forecast revenues under this climate of extreme uncertainty. The proposed general operating fund budget for the fiscal 2021 year that we're bringing or will be brought to council for adoption at next meeting, is currently estimated to be structurally balanced. And as you can see from this chart, that balance in the lower right hand corner is $110,000. So, um, we are barely balancing, but um, We're balancing nonetheless and and just for uh, purpose of comparison, you can see how we did, um, uh, in fiscal 19 as well as what we budgeted for fiscal, um, 20. So, as you could see, the, uh, the vending balances have continued to go down. Um, And although revenues are currently estimated to be sufficient to fund our proposed expenditures. They were very difficult to confidently project due to the extreme uncertainty of our current economic climate. And the fact that they are very dependent on the length of time that the current shelter of place or will continue. Staff will continue to modify its assumptions over the next several months as additional and better information becomes available. Next flight, please. Let's see. Sorry about.

[03:43:20] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: Jesse, I'm controlling the PowerPoint. This is Kimbra, and so they can see the slides when they're advancing. So when you're talking, I got them.

[03:43:29] Finance and Administrative Services Director Jesse Takahashi: Okay, I must be looking at the wrong one. Okay, sorry. Let's see. Okay, should we slide 12. Uh, now that's slide 11, sorry about that. All right. So this next chart is focused just on the general operating fund revenues alone, and that is estimated revenues of $144.2 million. Here, the largest of the sources of revenue for the general operating finer property tax, use of money, uh, and property, uh, followed by a sales tax. And what's kind of of note and interesting is not that property tax represents about 40%, um, which is not notable. But that our 2nd largest revenue source is the money use of money and property, which represents almost 16% of the general operating fund revenues. I would like to mention that it's notable because, um, this revenue represents real property rents and leases that the city, um, receives uh, annually, um, from a property that it owns and that it uh, leases and rents out to to others. So, uh, the fact that the city is a property owner and has a diverse revenue stream, uh, is one of the reasons why it, uh, we have been helped to uh, whether the current storm that we are in. Simply put, we are not as heavily dependent on sales tax and the hotel tax as many of other cities around us are. And just of note, uh, well, you know, the hotel tax was one of the harder hit, um, uh, revenues, it does only count for about 3% of the of the general operating fund revenue. So, um, it is a relatively um, Smaller piece of the total pie. Next line. And this slide actually will sort of illustrate that. You can see again the different revenues, property tax, money, and use of money and property, sales tax, and TOT. Um, You can see TOT and sales tax earlier, sort of our 3rd and 4th behind property and money and use of property. Um, and, um, again, property taxes being estimated at $570000 um, money and property at about $22.6 million. Um, these are some of the, the, the revenues that we have been relying on to help get us through um, this, this storm right now. Next line. General operating fund expenditures now, um, shown here at $148.100000 And that is, as you can see from the chart, um, shows that half of our general fund expenditures are public state represented by public safety, uh, police and fire. Um, one of the reasons why these budgets are the largest 2 segments, um, in the general fund is primarily driven by the fact that they're required uh, to be 24 by 7 staffing. So, um, you know, it's around the clock, um, service and availability, um, for all the residents, um, employees, visitors coming in, uh, to Mountain View, uh, and, and these are all charged without fees or uh, any particular dedicated revenue source. So these are funded by our general revenues. Next flight. This next slide now is something that we had put together. Well, we normally do a 5 year forecast. Um, but one of the things that we wanted to do because of so much uncertainty that is occurring uh, during this period of uh, of the COVID uh, 19 pandemic, is that we wanted to not only um, forecast for the, the 5 years in the, ahead, but also provide some alternative scenarios in case um, The duration lasts longer than we expected. So, as you know, we are still under the shelter in place order. We are assuming and our projections are currently assuming that this would end after June. Uh, we are now in the month of June. So that's coming up. And that's what these main expenditure projection, revenue, and expenditure projections are based on. So, uh, you can see the operating balance sort of it, um, in the middle there of 110,000, and then you can see going out into the 2nd, third, 4th and 5th years. In year 2 and 3, we do start to encounter um, a deficit. Um, and it does grow in the uh, fiscal 2223 fiscal year. Um, Now, what we did was we added a couple scenarios, we added scenario one and two, which would take that assumed shelter in place and extend the 1st one through August, and so we would see what would happen if that order extended for a couple more months. Um, and then we also took a 2nd scenario to say what would happen if this uh, gets extended even for a longer period of time uh, through October. And as you can see, these are the bottom line impacts to what that 110,000 operating balance would be. So, scenario one, instead of $110,000 positive balance, we would end up with a $2500000 negative balance or a deficit. Um, and then if you took that out, uh, even a couple months further, that would double that deficit to um, over $5000000. And so we did that for each of the years. And as you could see, um, you know, uh, the longer this in order extends, of course, the more detrimental it would be to the general operating fund. But it is important to make sure that we are looking forward, looking ahead to see the possibilities to know what we might encounter and have to deal with. For the next slide? This next slide is really kind of a high level summary of what we are anticipating or have included in the proposed budget for fiscal 2021 and it's broken down by 3 categories, nondiscretionary costs, discretionary costs, and limited period costs. The nondiscretionary costs, essentially, are things that the city have to do, um, is not really in a good position to be able to, um, not incur that, uh, expenditure, um, maybe like utilities, costs or, or maintenance, certain maintenance things that have to be done. Um, discretionary costs or those that uh, will give us or, provide us with a little bit more opportunity to maybe defer something or not do something. Um, it's, it's really a little bit more of a choice. Um, and then the total limited uh, period, limited period costs are really uh, those that are one time in nature, ones that we don't expect to recur year after year. Um, So nondiscretionary costs are proposed at 538,000. Um, the details of those are in the miscellaneous tab section of your uh, proposed budget and starting on page 7 dash 7. Um, total discretionary costs proposed are 822,000, uh, dollars, and those are, um, for many high priority ongoing items, about half of that is personnel related. Uh, and again, the complete um, detail listing breakdown is in the miscellaneous tab uh, section starting on page 7 dash 13. And then lastly, the limited period costs. Um, of $3.9 million, um, are, again, one time items. Uh, there is a little bit of offsetter with revenue, um, about $1800000 of this total is, um, related to personnel costs. Um, and a lot of that, most of it is just really ongoing continuation of uh, staffing that's needed um, at the city. And these costs can be uh, found at the same uh, miscellaneous tab in, in the proposed budget document, um, starting on page 7 uh, dash 19. That is the summary of the general operating fund. We'll move into the development, other major funds, starting with a development services fund. Next slide. So development uh activity has also been impacted by the uh pandemic and shelter-in-place order. uh, fiscal uh, 21 projected operating revenues um, are 15.100000 um, 14% lower than the current year. Um, proposed operating expenditures are 16.7. Uh, which is higher, uh, that would leave a potential net operating uh, deficit, uh, of about a 1000000 six. Um, but we do have uh, existing uh, ending balance at 313.200000 and that's where um, this uh, deficit for this year would be made up from. Um, that balance uh, represents funds that are necessary to, um, uh, continue the work, uh, uh, that's needed, that sometimes will span multiple years. Um, and it also is needed to provide for um, future economic, um, difficult times and slow down. So, um, that's kind of a high level summary of that particular fund. And move on to our next slide. Uh, our next uh, major fund is a shoreline golf links in Michael's shoreline at um, shoreline restaurant. Uh, the uh, restaurant and the golf course had to close, of course, due to the uh, shelter and place order. Um, they did incur significant losses as a result uh, during the current year and uh, they're currently is estimated to be a half $1000000 um, deficit, which will require transfer from the general non-operating fund in order to remain balanced for the year. And um, the recommendation will be as part of uh, tonight's um, item. Fortunately, the golf course was able to reopen under some modifications to the shelter in place order. Uh, just later uh, in the later part of May. And so that is up and running, which is we're very thankful for. Um, For next year, in fiscal 21, the uh, golf links revenues are projected at $2400000, expenditures proposed at 2.3, so it's um, uh, almost a break even or is uh, slight positive. Um, and modesty increases are being proposed um, for, uh, the golf course. Um, we did hire or the, the management company for the golf course touchdown also took over management of Michael's the restaurant in January of 2019. And um, they're projecting revenues at one. 1900000 uh and expenditures of one.700000 for next year. So, again, they are projecting a positive outcome, despite the situation that we're in now, so much that we are projecting a $200,000 combined transfer to the general fund from this operation. Next slide. And that leads us into our proposed utility rates. Um, So we have enterprise funds that consist of water, waste, water, solid, and solid waste, um, and while slight uh, rate increases are being proposed for next year. Most of these increases that are, uh, requested for increase are actually going to be proposed to be deferred for 6 months. So normally where we would request for, uh, where we would request for, uh, increases beginning on July one. Um, and city has uh, thought to defer those for a 6 month period to make uh, most of those effective beginning in January. For example, the water fund is looking at a one% water increase rate, um, and a ¢50 per unit increase for recycled water for the 3rd year of a phase in. And again, that would be effective in January. Um, This would translate to an average single family increase of $one.12 per month. Uh, in the wastewater fund, uh, while there's a 4% overall uh, rate increase being proposed, um, 2% being uh, effective on July one. The other half is being proposed to be deferred until July one. Again, this would mean that the average single family increase would be approximately $one.70 per month. Um, for that fund, for that, for that, uh, Uh, rate. In the solid waste management or garbage fund, the 2% overall rate increase is being proposed. Um, however, uh, and this would, This would, um, result in an average, uh, family, single family increase of ¢70 per month for, uh, a 72 uh, 32 gallon uh, cart. Those are the utility rates, and I may have missed one fund, which I think was the shoreline park. I don't know if we can back up real quick on that one. Yes, I think I skipped over that one. Uh, property taxes for the Shoreline Regional Park community are the principal revenue source there. It's projecting revenues of $480000 in expenditures of $36.9 million, which includes capital improvements of $420000 dollars. Um, Again, uh, there are a lot of capital projects that are, um, uh, being being planned out there and that was covered within the capital improvement plan that was considered earlier tonight. Um, So we can move on to our next slide. So within the proposed budget document. Um, there's a section uh, that includes uh, the listing of proposed fees. The majority of these fees are being recommended with inflationary increases only. Um, there are some new and modified fees related to building attendant, uh, the shoreline golf links, um, a fire event team, a 4 person team, uh, as well as cannabis fees, uh, the utility rates we, um, also had just, just covered. So the detail of the proposed fees are in your budget documents starting on pages 7 dash 40 37 dash 76. Um, uh, and that's um, I'm going to say about the proposed fees. And lastly, um, we come to the summary of capital projects, which was just considered an earlier item tonight. Uh, and again, just a high level summary, nondiscretionary projects. Um, there were 33 of those proposed for um, next year at $16.3 million, uh, discretionary projects, uh, uh, at $15.60000 and uh, amendments to existing projects of just under 1000000 for total, uh, CIP for next fiscal year of, uh, just under $33 million. Um, And then I would just like to note that funding for the CIP would will take place um, at the June 23rd um, budget adoption meeting. So that are the slides that I have, um, for you, and at this point, I would like to turn it back over to our city manager who will, um, address, uh, city council, major work goals. Thank you.

[04:00:59] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: I'll move quickly through these last slides. So, just to give an update. We are experiencing a significant workload now, um, attending to the COVID-19 impacts and changing the way that we do business and that is anticipated to continue in the year ahead. So staff had to take a look at the current work plan. We are in the midway mark of the 2 year plan. Um, so we looked at the deliverables and timeline for the 69 projects that were approved in February at midyear. And of those 69 projects, 15 have been completed. Most of them are currently underwear ongoing 45. There are 9 that are recommended for deferral due to workload. And there are 4 new projects that have been proposed that are related to critical COVID-19 efforts. And I would also note that related to this, uh, we have recommended that gatekeeper applications uh, be deferred until fall of 2021. There is still a lot of uncertainty ahead. This is a mantra. I think that you'll you'll hear from, um, not only us, but in in other cities. We are really cautiously optimistic that any modifications to the shelter in place will encourage more spending and will help with city revenues in the months to come. And as previously mentioned, we will make sure to bring quarterly updates to council with um, our revenue projections and our actual experience. And if we need to make any adjustments to the 2021 budget, we can do that at midyear or sooner. Um, basically assessing it um, as we go based on the city's fiscal condition. So with that, I want to close by saying that as we've mentioned, we are in um, an enviable position and that we do have a balanced budget. And this is because we have historically remained fiscally prudent and we've taken those proactive and strategic steps to ensure our fiscal health and we've diversified our revenues and we have prudent reserves and that has really positioned us to be able to weather the economic disruption right now and whether this storm. So I want to thank council for your leadership and support going through this and I'm open to any questions right now. Thank you.

[04:03:33] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. Mr. Takahashi and city manager. Um, let's go to council questions. Are there questions from council members, council member McAllister?

[04:03:44] Councilmember John McAlister: You know, I feel like Castro's act, because he's always the 1st one to raise his hand. So I wish some others would jump in, but um, for the city manager. You know, there was a lot of comments about the city giving the public safety a bump. Um, in budget. But isn't that because the cost of living in Mountain View, because the cost of wages to keep staff, the cost of housing, is more expensive in our particular area when people compare it to other police departments or other public safety agencies. And Isn't that also in line with the overall budget increase for all of the departments?

[04:04:30] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: Um, thank you, council member McAllister, yes, that is correct. So we do live in an area. That is significantly higher than other places, not only in California, but across the entire nation. So, we have a different cost of living and different impacts that definitely are different in Silicon Valley. Um, then in terms of just our expenses. Our total citywide general fund expenses are increasing 7.5%. And that's compared to police expenses increasing 5.2%. So actually, our citywide general fund increases are higher than those in the police department budget specifically. And that really is primarily due to normal inflationary cost increases, um, services and supplies and other increases that just increase on an incremental basis year over year, um, and you would see that in any budget, um, for the general fund. Um, every, every year in every department.

[04:05:37] Councilmember John McAlister: Okay. So other than transportation. And smart city and fiber and innovation, public art is important to me because we seem to be doing a lot of construction and people like to be able to, I think art is a way to improve the quality of life and a, a small respite from the world. And I noticed that you are deferring the art project or hiring the consultant to go further with this particular project, and I was wondering, I thought we hired someone and How much, how many, how much dollars are we really talking about? It's 5.5, I believe, on the project. So, I mean, what's the dollar amount that we're talking about? To, if keep moving forward, because I'm concerned that we got a lot of projects, a lot of public works. I mean, development going on, and I hate to see us lose the opportunity to get art incorporated in these projects.

[04:06:37] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: Um, Council member, McAllister, yes, I know that this is something that has been recommended for deferral, and um, I would need to check with our community development director on the cost of any consultant. But I think the larger piece of this really is the workload. So even, even if we have a consultant. They have to work with staff and staff, um, will have to, um, work in collaboration with this person, um, whoever would be hired for this. And, and I think the, the bigger piece of this is, it doesn't mean that that won't happen. It just means that this item would be deferred until the next goal setting process. And you know, that we are in the middle of hiring an economic development manager right now. So we are going to be increasing our staffing resources on a more permanent basis. Um, so we're hopeful that that person will be hired by the end of the summer. And um, if the community development director can speak more to the cost. I would ask her to do that. But at this point, this really does come down to workload. And so I would ask that if this is something that, um, the council feel strongly about to think through what might be a trade-off, um, or how we might be able to do this just because this is an impact to economic development and we're concentrating so much on the small business strategy and other efforts related to that. Um, It's just a large part of the work plan, but, um, I would ask RT to to weigh in on that.

[04:08:16] Community Development Director Artisha Vastiva: Happy to do that. Um, uh, Kimbra, uh, Artisha Vastiva, community development director. Um, so the cost of the consultant that we're hiring is $60,000. Uh, we have actually hired the consultant and had planned to start on the project. Um, but as you know, um, we have Right now, only one person working in the economic development department. Um, and as as Kimber mentioned, the city manager mentioned, we have the economic development manager position open, but not filled as yet. Um, that same person is also working on 2 additional large projects, including the small business strategy, which we've actually prioritized, um, as part of the council's uh, efforts for COVID. And the 2nd one is the downtown parking strategy. Um, and so those have been prioritized ahead of the public art. But I can assure you that we do plan to work on that as soon as we have personnel available, and it's my hope that with the economic development manager on board, um, we can try to get this done faster, but, um, the estimate we gave you is is the best case that we can see given the staffing at this time.

[04:09:31] Councilmember John McAlister: Okay, so if we wanted to maybe divert one project for another, so I know parking.

[04:09:39] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Oh, okay. Thank you. Council member Hicks.

[04:09:50] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Sorry, that took me so long. So I'm just gonna re-ask the same question. that council member McAllister asked, but in a different way, because honestly, I asked it earlier of the city manager, and I think she answered it in just a slightly nuanced different way that I just wanted to confirm. I think when I asked, uh, that you said not only was it a cost savings and a matter of, uh, managing staff time, but also that once the 2nd economic, the economic development staff was hired, it would be better integrated with that work was what, And I just want to confirm that that element is is also a factor in why it's being put off. In other words, put off to a time when somebody can kind of manage it and integrate it with the rest of the economic development. Because so I'm confirming that because that's what convinced me not to go further with my questioning at the time. Thank you.

[04:10:50] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: Yes, that is part of it too. I think we really need to take a look when the economic development manager is brought on board to these, all of these projects here and just to reiterate what, um, the community development director said, this is something that is still a priority. It's a timing issue right now. And so incorporating that into the new manager's workload will be something that we'll be figuring out. And then also, whatever the consultant is working on too, will be integrated as part of that. So there's there's all several components to this. But I would say, yes, there will be better integration of this once we have a manager on board.

[04:11:35] Councilmember Alison Hicks: And then I was going to ask, similarly, also, the historic preservation, I think, is also a part of the downtown revival was that also being deferred until that person could help oversee it as well.

[04:11:47] Community Development Director: Uh, no, the historical, uh, the historic ordinance is being done by the planning division, so it's a different division. Um, we are working on the downtown piece right now.

[04:11:59] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Right, but the historic preservation ordinance was listed along with visual arts as being deferred. So I guess my assumption was that both of those were being deferred for a similar reason, but I could be wrong.

[04:12:12] Community Development Director: Yes. So the 2 parts to the historic ordinance, one is reviewing historic buildings in the downtown. Um, and that survey is being conducted right now. Uh, the ordinance itself is being requested for deferral because, uh, yes, we do have a staffing and workload issue. Um, and have been working on a number of other council priorities.

[04:12:38] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Okay, thank you.

[04:12:40] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: That's where Ramirez.

[04:12:43] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Thank you, Marin. I know a lot of folks are waiting to provide public comments. I'll be as quick as I can. Um, and my, my apologies if, if I, if this was explained somewhere, but why is the, The Charleston East prepaid rent considered unearned.

[04:13:07] Unknown Speaker: So that's, uh, money is money that we got in advance for a number of years in the future, and so, um, because we got it up front, we, we, it's for that period of time, so the accounting rules specify that we would, um, recognize those revenues over that period of time. Um, so that, um, it matches the proper recognition, uh, for which the period that we're benefiting from. I mean, that's typically why those monies were unearned. And we, and we recognize that was over the period of time that those, um, are for rent period.

[04:13:48] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: So, um, since we've, we've invested it, we can, we can use it, right? Or is there, is there some kind of prohibition on its use until the 30 year or until, until we've accrued enough earned interest to match the principle.

[04:14:07] Unknown Speaker: Yeah, we can use the money. Um, but yeah, so 2 different things. We have a cash in in hand so we can use that money. It's invested now, um, but that could be used and set aside for, um, you know, other types of priorities if if council so decides. So the revenue itself is more of an accounting recognition, which is a separate issue.

[04:14:33] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Got it. Thank you. That's very helpful. And then, um, I guess I, I, I don't know if you would happen to know offhand, but the, the revenue from the Google parking lease, um, and I, I, I sort of asked this in the question submitted in advance. Do you, do you know if, if there would be just in terms of maintaining purchasing power for each of the dollars that we receive? Um, is there any value in using that money to, you know, to put it in a reserve and then use that to pay the anticipated increase in pension contribution, contribution costs that were, that were anticipating when cowpers, um, reduces the discount rate? Is that, I guess, is there a material benefit to using the money that way rather than the lump sum contribution strategy that the city is currently using that money for?

[04:15:30] Unknown Speaker: Um, and actually, I may want to ask our assistant um, director on that because of when the, the, the agreements were made. There may have been some other commitments on the use of those funds. So, um, we may be somewhat limited in wholesale diversion of that. Um, but, you know, again, there is, there is some choices and I think our assistant director, um, is, is on. I would ask her to um, for her thoughts on that.

[04:16:05] Assistant Director: So, uh, counsel previously, um, approved a plan to prepay uh, month sum payments to cow purse, and using the the Google parking lot, the future, Google parking lot lease, um, was part of the next $10000000 plan. But I think I understood you to say, um, council member Lucas, uh, Ramirez, that whether it's a lump sum versus to actually pay, um, the annual cost of purse. Is that correct?

[04:16:38] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Right. So the, the, the, the written response to the council question suggested that there is some risk associated with the lump sum contribution, and I'm, I guess I'm wondering if, you know, recognizing that we still have to address the, the pension liability, if, if, if, perhaps using it instead to, to pay the anticipated additional costs associated with the, the discount rate, if, if and when it's reduced by Calverts. Does that, does that make, is that helpful?

[04:17:10] Assistant Director: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I just wanted to make sure I understood your question. So yes, the, the inherent risk of making a lump sum payment is what recently just happened is if you made a lump sum payment in March and then the, um, market crashed. You're gonna, it's not going to give you as much value paying that lump sum payment. But we've been putting lump sum payments and calpers over the last, um. I think it's been 7 years now. Um. And uh, so it's kind of a cost valuing and how you invest money. Um, it's just how you do it. Um, but it could be used to instead pay for, um, the increased cost, uh, annual cost of cow purse. We did go through that analysis um, when we did the, um, We, we prepared a report on the calipers, lump sum payments when, when council approved the strategy, and we looked at, um, using the money to pay for, uh, increased calipers costs, um, the annual cost versus the lump sum payment, and I believe that, um, the analysis showed that it was better at that time to make a lump sum payment. I can dig out that report for you and provide the council if you'd like. It was part of a narrative budget report. Um, It was an attachment to a narrative budget report. Um. About 5 to 7 years ago. I can't remember the year.

[04:18:42] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Okay, that would be, that would be, yes, I would, uh, I would appreciate that. Thank you. I guess just the final question is, and I appreciate there's a lot of uncertainty and so staff will, we'll be checking in with council, you know, as, uh, as modification, budget, you know, become necessary. But as part of that analysis, will you be looking at some of, some of, sort of the use of, of these revenues, just to, you know, in the events, for instance, that it makes more sense to, you know, move from a lump, a contribution to, you know, something like, you know, using it to pay down the, the annual cost, or, you know, if, if there, the, the other thing I was thinking about is, um, you know, for something like the, the Charleston East prepaid rent. I don't want to lose the purchasing power of that money. So if we invest it tactically in things that we know will reduce costs, you know, moving words. So for instance, um, you know, we've talked about how, um, pavement maintenance now, you know, saves money down the road, you know, because we don't have to do more extensive, um, you know, maintenance, things like that. Is that something that staff will will also be continuously assessing and bringing back to council?

[04:20:04] Unknown Speaker: Yeah, I think, um, it really will depend upon the need at hand, and uh, there is some flexibility in being able to, um, um, repurpose some of the use of those funds that we have. Uh, and so I, you know, part of that is the cowpers hit, um, at least from the potential loss, uh, of, uh, this past year, uh, and investments won't hit for a couple more years. Um, certainly they can make a change to their assume discount rate, uh, which they're going to be uh, looking at, um, shortly. And so, you know, should that come down? Yes, then we can evaluate, you know, how we may, how that will impact us 1st and then what we will need to do in order to mitigate, um, you know, um, the obligation that it, it brings to us.

[04:20:57] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Okay, thank you. I appreciate it.

[04:21:03] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Are there council questions? No. Okay, uh, then I will open this up for public comment. And if you are in the 10 day box and would like to speak, please raise your hand by hitting the button at the bottom, and if you're on the phone, you can hit star 9. And uh, we'll start with Jessica Matthew. If you can unite yourself, please.

[04:21:40] Jessica Matthew: Okay. Hello? Can you hear me?

[04:21:42] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Yes.

[04:21:43] Jessica Matthew: Okay, great. Um, so yes, hi, my name is Jessica Matthew. I'm here with Silicon Valley Democratic Socialists of America. Um, I'm here to comment on the $44000000 that you are allocating to the police department. Um, I think it's unacceptable that you are spending more on the police. Um, than all other community services, and that you are paying nearly $100,000 on, quote, special operation vehicles and $13,000 on drones alone. You should be spending this money on helping vulnerable populations in the community or on public education, not on militarizing the police. Furthermore, we should be working towards defunding the police completely. As time and time again, they have shown that they care more about protecting property over protecting lives and making us feel safe. It is your duty to represent your constituents. I am urging you to completely revise this budget. Public opinion is with me. Black lives matter. Show that you believe that by taking steps to undo the system that has overwhelmingly targeted and murdered black people. I yield the rest of my time.

[04:22:48] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Oh, thank you. Next, we have Anna Marie Morales, please, unmute yourself, and um, just you don't need to end, yield your time, just, uh, and when you're done, thanks. Ready to go?

[04:23:03] Anna Marie Morales: Good evening. My name is Anna Marie Morales, and I live in Sahara mobile village. I care for my elderly and disabled mother. We've lived in Mountain View for over 40 years now. Um, specifically Sahara mobile since 2014. We have watched in horror and dismay as both the RHC and the Mountain View City Council have danced around the issue of including mobile homes for rent stabilization for too many years now. There are constant excuses and delays, and the total disregard of counsel from their own lawyer that advised them to include us. Who will help us? Mayor Abbe Koga said that we need to reflect on our biases, I ask her, what are your personal biases towards rent, control and extending it towards mobile home residents. There are clearly people in the city council and the RHC that have done everything possible to not help us. Local home communities are filled with senior citizens like my mother that are on a fixed income and depend on affordable housing to stay within their means. We are vulnerable. We are unprotected and we need help now. Sadly, art outcries have repeatedly fallen on mostly deaf ears. To those that are on city council that do not speak out for us or against us. I ask you to look within yourself and reflect on it. The morally right thing to do is to protect the vulnerable, and you are not doing that. Mobile home residents and our neighbors are watching you and taking note. I look forward to voting in November. Thank you and good night.

[04:24:31] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Okay, next, we have Frank Tavares, please unmute yourself.

[04:24:38] Frank Tavares: Hi, um, yeah, thanks so much. Um, I guess, listening to, uh, everything else everyone was talking about while we were making to make public comment, you know, it, all this, these questions about funding kept coming up, like, how are we going to fund the furniture for, you know, Castro Street or all these different things? And, you know, I just kept thinking, you know, okay, well, we have a $44000000 that are sitting in the police budget, um, and there's so many other things that we can do with it. Um, you know, just my, my day job is I, I work at uh, NASA's Aims research center just up the street from Castor Street. Um, so I'm also a public servant, um, and, you know, uh, sort of have an understanding of of what working on a government budget sometimes looks like. Uh, and, you know, digging into research about the police departments not only in Mountain View, but across the Bay Area and the country, seeing what police officers get paid, um, was kind of a shock to me, uh, because I sort of thought most government agencies or, or, you know, government funded work was kind of in the same boat. Um, so, you know, there's really an exorbitant amount of cost that goes in, in, into these, into policing. And, you know, the fact that there's, you know, this budget is increasing from last year, that funds are being allocated to buy drones. Um, you know, this, it seems ridiculous, especially when, you know, as council members, you all are counting pennies for the things that actually make our lives better. Um, you know, so I would I would encourage you all to look very seriously at, at, um, you know, what is actually necessary in that budget, um, and where that could be put to other places. There's no reason that the rest of us working in public service need to be counting dimes when, you know, the police have all of these funds. Thank you.

[04:26:13] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. Next Eva Tang, please send mute yourself.

[04:26:18] Eva Tang: Hello, can you hear me?

[04:26:19] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Yes.

[04:26:20] Eva Tang: Nothing. Once again, Eva Tang, uh, grew up in the Bay Area, 3 year Mountain View resident, also here with Mountain View coalition for police reform. I'm telling you that I take issue with increased spending in the police department regardless of inflation. As said before, our police force stops black residents at 5 times the rate of their white neighbors, and they arrest our black neighbors at 9 times the rate of white residents. So I'm suggesting we start reinvesting police spending into resources that would strengthen our communities and lower crime, replacing police with specialists for situations police deal with, can more effectively address the issues mountain view residents face. So imagine a city employee connecting our residents in RVs with safe places to park, food, low income health clinics. I also have a fund with a brother on the autism spectrum in his 20s. She lives in fear that police will be called on her brother. They won't know how to handle his behavior, which is often misunderstood, and something horrific will happen. Imagine if a behavior specialist could respond instead. Don't leave Mountain View trailing behind cities leaving the country in police reform. I'm a high school teacher so I know what it's like to do a thankless job. I could not intervene in a student crisis without our counselors on staff, and I don't see why a police officer should be expected to do the same. This is not the path to a stronger mountain view. I'm going to call for decreasing spending on police by 10% as well as reallocating the spending to more effective resources. Thank you.

[04:27:53] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. Good to Miriam Conner. Please send me unmute yourself.

[04:28:00] Miriam Connor: Hi. Um, my name's Miriam Connor. I'm also here with the Mountain View Coalition for Police Reform. Um, and I'm a Mountain View homeowner and resident. Looking at this photo, I'm concerned about how we're investing in public safety. Um, because the public safety issue. I'm most worried about is the lack of safe and secure housing for all of our residents in the community. I don't think we should be allocating budget to drones and rifles and towing RVs. I think we should reinvest that money in our community to make sure the entire community is securely housed. And I want to make sure that the public safety budget reflects what community members care about. So that's why our coalition is calling for a 10% decrease in the police budget, a reinvestment of that money and community initiatives, and a line by line budget audit by the independent commission open to all community members. And I will note that if we are concerned about funding for chairs on Castro Street, we can get about 1000 of them out of the drone budget. Thank you.

[04:29:01] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you, next. We have Nina. I don't have a last name. Nina, can you unmute yourself?

[04:29:11] Nina: Hi, my name's Tina. I'm a resident of Mountain View. Earlier tonight, the police chief stated that each resident pays in excess of $500 per capita per police. That is 12% above the California average of foreign seats, most other states, that is unacceptable, irresponsible, and necessary, especially for the police department in a neighborhood with very little violent crime, a neighborhood that does not need drowns or new rifles. We must say very significant portion of much of these tax dollars to reinvest in housing accessibility and food security, especially in light of the current financial situation and public health crisis. I would also like to see funding put aside for mental health professionals, disperse responders, or maybe even anti-racist public art, as well as ongoing anti-racism training available to Mountain View community. Also, I would like to highlight to the mayor that her experience with the police as a non-lite person cannot be used to invalidate the experiences of the community that took the time out of their night to force their concerns. Thank you.

[04:30:08] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Next, we go to Amy. Scary, Ryan? Can you unmute yourself, please? Amy?

[04:30:25] Gary Ryan: I'm Gary Ryan, and I live in Mountain View with my husband and 2 year old daughter, and I'm with the Mountain View Coalition for Police Reform. Having reviewed the proposed Mountain View Police Budget. I do not believe the current proposal reflects the values and priorities of our community. For example, I see the current proposal includes a $60,000 increase for parking enforcement and RV towing. Our community has a long history of displacement of low income people, particularly people of color, as tech workers like myself move to the Mountain View area. And I don't think that we should be, this situation is made even more dire by the current COVID-19 crisis and its economic fallout, which again disproportionately impacts black and brown residents. Services and resources for these vulnerable members of our community are critically underfunded. Instead of putting our tax dollars towards the criminalization of poverty, telling people's homes because they live in their vehicles, our resources should be going to provide real-time relief and alleviating root causes of housing displacement. As we've seen across the country, police involvement and issues stemming for mental health addiction and homelessness results in unnecessary escalation and that becomes dangerous for both police and citizens. I joined my fellow residents in calling for a decrease in police funding by at least 10% in the 2021 budget with reallocation of these funds to services that support lower income black and brown residents, particularly those struggling with housing and stability. Thank you.

[04:31:47] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you, we go to Alex Nunez. Please unmute yourself.

[04:31:53] Alex Nuñez: Dear John McAllister. I love you. Thank you so much for making my night. I, I, absolutely loved how you tried to get ahead of all of the arguments on the police, uh, stand reallocation by literally describing the housing crisis, and I say describing the housing crisis because I actually don't think you understand it. And so I'll give you some solutions for being able to keep cops here with lower budget. One is maybe you can build housing. And if you don't want to build the housing, then maybe you can help them stay in some kind of home that they lease under some kind of easier to predict increment to the rent, like rent control or rent stabilization. You might be able to do that. If it wasn't such a waste of my life to watch you on city council. I would actually find it so much funnier what you said. But I yield the rest of my time. I chew.

[04:32:49] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Next, we have Ellie Green. Please unmute yourself.

[04:32:55] Ellie Green: Really? Sorry about that. The option to unmeet.com through. Hi, I'm Ellie Green. I've spoken to you all a couple times before and I'm with the Mountain View Coalition for Police Reform. So, I can't necessarily follow up Alex's speech, but I do need to bring up the point that many of my fellows have thought it before. Drones. I'm sorry, I'm a student at Mountain View High School. We have severely, we have no mental health resources. Our community has no resources for mental health. I have had to talk my friends down from suicide because there are not available resources in this community, and instead of putting money towards, I don't know, helping save our children. You've decided to invest it in drones and new guns, and well, I can understand the appeal of shiny new toys. It seems ridiculous. This budget does not reflect the needs of our community. This budget reflects the needs of a specific district of a specific organization that, causes issues that, Perpetuates racial issues that causes problems in our society that responds badly to these calls that doesn't actually do its job. And so instead of going to social workers, instead of going to people who are qualified to address these issues, You decide to throw money at the problem. And that's not where you need to be throwing money and that's not what you should be doing to begin with, but fundamental health. Fund social workers, fund appropriate responses. Don't fund fancy, shiny new toys for a police department that just is going to play around. Thank you and I yield my time to the chair.

[04:34:32] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Nicks will go to Amy. Please unmute yourself, Amy. There you go. Amy, hi there.

[04:34:46] Amy Cummings: Sorry. Hi, my name's Amy Cummings. I'm with showing up for racial justice, Sacred Heart. I am a local voter, municipal police forces in America are steeped in a long and problematic history. They do not protect and serve members of my community equally. In fact, the neighborhood where I live. In my neighborhood, police are more likely to make residents lives harder rather than safer. And though the Mountain View police haven't recently been under public scrutiny. recent weeks have shown that our system of underfunding the police and cutting other essential services is not working, and our community deserves better. Last year, the council authorized spending $42.60000 on its police force. By comparison, it spent only 23.100000 on housing, even though the council has declared a housing emergency and we spent a bunch of time talking about it tonight. And for the 2020, 2021 budget, we ask you to cancel all police department overhire proposals and trainees and that the police department's budget be cut before other programs are reduced or eliminated. We asked the council to resolve not to purchase any militarized equipment for the police department now or at any time in the future. Finally, we ask that the council begin the process of divesting funds from the police department and reinvesting them in community led health and safety strategies that do not result in incarceration from our of our community. Thank you.

[04:36:07] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: We moved to 1811. Please unmute yourself. Dina? Let's see. Oh, there you go. Medina. You should be on. Hmm. Adina, can you? Try and muting?

[04:36:38] Adina: Oh, there you go. I hear you, if you can. Oh, no. you hear me?

[04:36:41] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: There you go. Yes, welcome.

[04:36:44] Adina: All right. Wow, that was an extra special triple mute that my computer had on. Um, D 11 with friends of Caltran. And uh, uh, thank you very much for your service in this really uh, difficult pandemic year. Uh, wanted to, uh, give you an update on, uh, what, uh, friends of Caltrain um, has been doing um, in this uh, pandemic. I do see that the wine item is in the city's membership and I want to talk about what we have been doing and we'll continue to be doing. Um, so in the pandemic, public transit is in a really very difficult straits with shelter in place that has caused uh, transit fair revenue to crash and sales taxes to crash. Um, so, um, fortunately, there has been federal uh, funding. To keep the transit moving and what we have been doing has been. We've redirected our community education programs online, helping people stay up to date on the, uh, issues regarding, uh, keeping Caltrain running and keeping public transit running and having a public transit system that will still be around in the pandemic. Um, to be able to address our uh, needs for uh, the environment to help the economy recover from the pandemic, um, to help with um, housing in the future as well. Um, so, um, we are, uh, working on educating the community on the local and regional issues for people to be able to participate. So I hope you do continue to support. Thank you.

[04:38:32] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. Uh, next is Alex Wong. Please unmute yourself. You should be on.

[04:38:42] Alex Wong: Hello?

[04:38:43] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Yep, hi Alex.

[04:38:44] Alex Wong: Hi, this is Alex Wong from the Mountain View Coalition for Peace Police.

[04:38:48] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Uh-oh. Sorry, Alex. I lost you.

[04:38:57] Alex Wong: Mm All right, should I just restart? Sorry about that.

[04:39:02] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: No worries.

[04:39:03] Alex Wong: This is Alex Wong from the amount of dupe coalition for police reform. I made a comment earlier after the police chief's racist PR attempt. We're demanding that the police budget immediately decreased by at least 10% to be reinvested in alternative 1st responder systems and city services. We're demanding a line by line audit by an independent open commission moving forward. It is unconscionable to even maintain the current police budget. We're spending 10 times more money on this budget than we did on COVID-19 relief. We're spending 10s of 1000s of dollars on new rifles and drones at a time when the nation is reckoning with tragic police fans. Sure, the cost of living rises for police. But please think about how much harder that rise is for the poorer residents whom the police crass, find an arrest. We cannot allow the city to bolster a police force whose white police chief compares the oppression of black people to the oppression of the police. We need substantially less funding. There is so much evidence that alternative 1st responder systems work. and are cost effective. Portland's pilot program costs $500,000. Eugene, Oregon, saves $8000000 a year, and this is if you care more about the money. We must reallocate at least 10% of our placements, the systems, the communities that needed. Our budget must be independently audited moving forward. Our insistence on an excessively, on an extensive, excessively funding a department with a living history of sexual assault, violent assault, racist comments, and over policing cannot continue. Let's please have the heart to do this. Thank you and I yield my time.

[04:40:26] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Well, good is sharing, saying. Please unmute yourself.

[04:40:31] Public Speaker: Hi there, love you, president here. Outright. I would like to call on the city council to commit to defunding the police system and seriously look into and invest in alternatives to policing. Um, I am glad that we are talking about fiscal health and I would also like us to focus on the health of the black people and other people who are targeted in our community. Um, some other people have references, references the 8 to 8 can't wait campaign and it also encourage everyone to look into the 8 to abolition campaign. Their 8 demands are one, defund police, 2 demilitarized communities, 3 remove police from schools, 4 free people from jails and prisons. 5 repeal laws that criminalize survival. Six, invest in community self-governance. 7 provides safe housing for everyone and 8 invest in care, not cops. So as other people have mentioned, um, the 20 K to tow RVs can be redirected to other services for RVs and that can also be applied to so many other items in the police budget. The, um, talk around drones has actually got me thinking, where is this data stored, who has access to this data? How are we protecting sensitive information about our residents? When does is that information and that fitage deleted? That's all. Thank you.

[04:41:47] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Let's go to Logan. Please unmute yourself.

[04:41:53] Logan: Um, hi, my name is Logan. I live in work in Map view. Um, I want to call attention again to the 44000000 that the council has allocated next year to the police force. Um, it's clear that there's a fundamental problem with municipal police forces in the United States, and they do not actually make our neighborhoods safer for all residents. The city's money should be spent on services that benefit all members of our community. such as housing, sustainability initiatives, and infrastructure improvements. For the 2020, 2021 budget, I'm asking you to cancel all police department over high proposals and trainees and that the department's budget is be cut before other programs are reduced or eliminated. I'm asking the council to resolve not to purchase any militarized equipment for the police department now or anytime in the future. Finally, I'm asking if the council begin the process of divesting from the police department and reinvest those funds in community led health and safety strategies that do not result in incarceration. Thank you for your time.

[04:42:47] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. We'll go to Kelsey Joseph.

[04:42:55] Kelsey Joseph: Hi again, uh, this is Kelsey for the Mountain View Coalition for, uh, police reform and accountability. So I just want to speak about the current political moment. So coronavirus and the ensuing economic recession has led to housing difficulties from many of our fellow residents. Whether that means they're currently on housed or living in their vehicles or just stressed about paying rent. There are many commendable things that have been done to help, but we in the city can do so much more. And really specifically, We should not hurt our most vulnerable community members by increasing the money the police can spend on parking enforcement, RB towing. That just absurd. It's frankly tone deaf and kind of insulting. And on the subject of tone deafness. You should really read the room about the nation right now. All across the country. Police departments are being dismantled, reimagined and having their budgets drastically cut. We're not even for calling that yet. We just want some accountability and reasonable budgeting. That's why, I'm calling for a 10% decrease in the police budget and a reinvestment in that money into community initiatives that will make us all safer without working against the current movement across the country. And we want a line by line budget audit by independent commission of citizens, community members, not city council members and police officers. Thank you.

[04:44:09] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: So we'll go to Caitlin Lehman. Please unmute yourself.

[04:44:16] Caitlin Lehman: Great, thank you. Hello, my name is Caitlyn Nyman. I live in work in Mountain View and I'm also an organizer with showing up for racial justice at Sacred Heart Community Service. Um, I'm here today because it's clear that on a national scale, the social contract between police forces and the communities they are supposed to serve has been broken. Um, so as our city faces cuts due to COVID-19. I'm here to ask that the council reinvest money from our police force to community health and safety strategies. When the police are called to do jobs that could be done better and more effectively by social workers, such as responding to calls about from mentally ill people, the possibility of inappropriate contact is always on the table, and it doesn't have to be that way. So I ask that the council not approve the police department's request for a 5% budget increase. Any request for over hire or trainees, and to also resolve not to purchase any military equipment for the police force either now or in the future, and to cut the Mountain View PD's budget before other programs or services are cut. Thank you so much.

[04:45:16] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thanks. Let's go too. So I have a phone number? Um, it's 1650 and the last 3 digits is 400. So if you could please unmute yourself.

[04:45:32] Elaine: View coalition. Oh, can you hear me?

[04:45:36] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Yes, welcome.

[04:45:37] Elaine: perfect. Thank you. My name is Elaine, and I'm with the Mountain View Coalition for Police Perform. I was born and raised in Mountain View, and I grew up in a mixed race, low income household with only other friends that are people of color and no income, and we've had no good interactions with the Mountain View Police Department. Majority of my friends now were kicked out of our community due to a lack of affordable housing, unlivable wages, and other underlining needs. Mountain View failed to provide, but the police stayed highly funded. Also, I think it's very appalling that you said. To address. Um, COVID 19 with the homeless population by implementing hand washing stations and outlets for them to use but not providing housing is, it's just, um, very upsetting. I think for I know we need to fund money into programs like low market rate housing and nonprofits like community of health awareness to address underlining needs of housing, mental health, living wage, and education, especially for blacks, other people of color and low income individuals. The community needs to reallocate funding and job duties to healthcare workers, social workers and emergency response teams to handle cases of abuse, IPD, homelessness and mental health. These are proven to reduce crime and reduce poverty and support communities. We need to reallocate money and create a commission to audit the wrongdoings police have done. Thank you.

[04:47:12] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you, but go to Connor, please unmute yourself.

[04:47:19] Connor O'Brien: Thanks. Uh, so, uh, O'Brien, I'm a Mountain View resident, who's also here with us, Elton Valley Democratic Socialist of America. I want to agree with the calls of earlier speakers regarding defunding, the Mountain Police Department, and I just want to add a couple points first. We heard a lot at the start of this meeting about all of the training and vetting and programs and past reforms that the department has adopted. And if you go to the website. They'll find a page saying that a lot of the points of the A can't wait, have already been partially or fully adopted, as I think, Council member Madditec mentioned a few hours ago, but despite trying all of that, we still see the Department of Arresting Hispanic and especially black residents at hugely disproportionate rates. At some point, we have to think whether new training and rules are going to solve this or whether policing itself is the problem. Defunding would let us handle fewer issues through policing and direct resources toward alternatives that don't involve arresting our most vulnerable residents. Second, I wanted to respond to the suggestion during council questions that this is not really a police budget increase because it just reflects the rising cost of living. The truth is that the level of resources directed to the police this past year was already too high. The abuses that speakers have been racing all night happened on this year's budget and on previous year's budgets, and the point about needing to reduce the role of the police stands regardless of why the budget is increasing this year. And then finally, I saw it earlier today that the responses to council questions, uh, posted on the council site, gave rationales for some of the line items people questioned, like drones and new rifles. And I want to emphasize that if you've been storing up reasons, you can't cut those in particular. You should be thinking hard about what part of the police budget. You can cut instead because ultimately it's your job to represent the priorities or constituents bring to you and translate those into the details of policies. Thank you.

[04:49:06] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. Let's go to Moira Fong.

[04:49:13] Moira Fong: Hi, my name is Mora. I live in the area and went to Mount View High School. Like many people here, I'm asking for the city council to consider reallocating funds from the police force. And so there's a few specific ways in which I think we can consider how we reallocate those funds. Um, one particular area is that given them that views significantly below all target field operations goals, which I greatly commend you all on, it leads me to wonder why we need to increase the field operations budget from 22000000 to 24 million. Why do we need to increase by another 22000000 because even if injustified inflation, this is clearly excessive, and this money could be better spent elsewhere, given that we are properly addressing any violent crime rates or any other uh, crime that the, Field operation goals are meant to address. Another place in which I think there can be reallocation of funds is in the capital outlay and equipment replacement area because this is increasing the budget by another $200,000 and that money could also be diverted to either train social workers or towards small businesses. Rather than spend money on drones, 3D laser scanners or patrol rifles, that money could go towards properly ensuring the properly ensuring that officers, for example, are trained in responding to mental health crises or having that money directly go into school or community, which desperately need funds. Thank you for your time.

[04:50:35] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. Go to Max. Please unit yourself, Max.

[04:50:41] Max Joyner: Hey, my name is Max Joyner. I called him earlier, but I'm a resident of Sunnyvale, just across the border from Mountain View, but I work there and frequently attend businesses there. Um, I really want to echo what, uh, a lot of other people really so eloquently put that, I just think it's absurd that the police department, um, is getting a budget increase in the midst of, um, we were just declared that we were in a recession now. So, of course, we're gonna have decreasing tax revenue. So cuts are going to be incoming, but at the time, I mean, we're going to see, as in recessions passed, it's going to be an austerity budget where social services get hit. And then, as a consequence of that, we don't see, you're going to see an increase of crime because people are going to get desperate. And then an increase in policing as a result of that. And it's a pattern between time and time again. And I just feel that it would be so much a better allocation of resources to take care of these problems before they developed and actually invest in social services, especially with more and more people losing their jobs or losing part-time income. They might have had like as an Uber driver, which this area is completely reliant on. Just, um, and I think that it's insane that we're getting drones and rifles and all these new toys for the police to play with despite the lack of any clear evidence why they actually need this equipment. when it could be spent on much better things, uh, with the amount of people. Thank you for your time and yield my time.

[04:52:09] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thanks. Go to meetcha. Not sure.

[04:52:16] Nija Masharola: Hi, my name is Nija Masharola, and I'm a resident and landlord here in Mountain View. Deep concerns about us spending 30% of our budget on police services, especially given the expected budget deficit, and the previous comments about police misconduct. For instance, money is allocated to pay tow companies is incentive for telling older RVs. This feels particularly unfair, given the current circumstances, and our ROI would likely be higher if we allocated those funds to our excellent rent relief efforts. Previous commentaries have mentioned other ways to better support our community. Overall, as a community, we are a hard-working and peaceful population. We don't need a militarized police force with 30 extra guns and drones to fight a zombie apocalypse. Please reallocate some of those funds to better serve the needs of our peaceful community. Thank you very much.

[04:53:14] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. Go to Kimberly Wand. Please unmute yourself.

[04:53:22] Kimberly Wand: Hi, my name is Kimberly Wand and I have been a Mountain View resident for the past 3 years. I'm a physician and I work with the underserved and uh, of those patients that I serve and many of them are mentally ill. They universally have stories of being assaulted by the police on mentioning, just twisting things that are not appropriate. And they are afraid, and it's not fair to spend the majority of our budget, like over a 3rd of our budget, $440000 on police. Um, especially when their line items are things like drones, as many people have said, and when they want to raise money by towing older RVs. And Generally speaking, I want to call on the city council to cut the Mountain View PD budget for other programs. Thank you.

[04:54:29] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. Let's go to Megan Freely.

[04:54:38] Megan Fraley: Hi, this is Megan Fraley. I am, can you hear me?

[04:54:43] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Yes.

[04:54:43] Megan Fraley: Oh, wow, it was gonna take more time. Um, I'm a Mountain View resident. I am a clinical psychologist, so I just want to echo everything I've heard in terms of the importance of reinvesting funds from the police budget into mental health and social services. We have research and other cities around the country showing us that their cost saving and successful solutions that can broaden our imagination around what is possible. Um, there are ways to put funds that actually will serve to protect public safety more than police funding will. But I think more than anything, I just want to echo what I actually said in the beginning, which is that this is about listening to the people. It's not about a subcommittee making decisions. It's not about the police department making decisions and it's not about even cutting. I mean, I think everyone would be happy if the drone program is cut, as was called for in September of 2019. But more than that, this is a radical moment of actual transformation in our country, and that requires more than subcommittees, and that requires more than police department audits. It requires a community led visioning process, both for policy and for the budget. It's essential and should truly be part of this moment to actually catch the tone of what is happening in this country that's essential for the Mountain View councils do. So not only do I support and encourage the council to cut unnecessary budget spending and no other programs in terms of the police budget, but to reduce the budget by 10 to 15% now. And moving forward, have a community led line by line audit process for the budget moving forward. I seed my time. Thank you.

[04:56:15] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: I should. Next, we have you on Lou. Please unmute yourself.

[04:56:26] Lou: Hello?

[04:56:28] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Yes, you're on.

[04:56:29] Lou: Okay. Uh, I want to comment on the councilman, uh, reference to cost of living. Leave, Leavable H is an. Wage is an important tenet of social justice, but is this a benefactor in this particular budget? Let me throw one data point as reference or consonants consideration. In Mountain View, a teacher of 6 to 9 years earns about $31 or $32 per hour. I'm not sure if you work 50 weeks a year, that works out to about 60 $1000 a year. And teachers, I, my understanding is the summer vacation time is not paid. Okay. So you probably already know what the police people make. And I urge you not to consider. The cost of living. as the factor in budget increase. That's all. Thank you.

[04:57:40] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: That's good. Alex Brown, please unmute yourself.

[04:57:44] Alex Brown: I mean, if you insist. So I got a, I got a quote from uh, this guy way back in the day, just an ancient philosopher, I think. Don't tell me what you value. Show me your budget and I'll tell you what you value. Uh, was the esteemed, uh, Joe Biden. Okay. Uh, Priorities are set, but from the top down, is is clearly not a pull system, and our democracy gives us very few tools to influence things day to day, except by coming here and asking you, hey, please listen to us. listen to what we want as a community. Don't tell us what we need. Like, listen to what we want and do it. Every 4 years, we have a little bit of say. But, Given that we don't have free and fair elections that are publicly funded, it's kind of skewed. Uh, the Mountain View, police officer or, yeah, the police officer at the station, POA. Uh, donates to campaigns, uh, has donated to several of your campaigns. And that influences the state of play in politics, and it's unfortunate. But you see how it comes out in the budget. And what you choose to spend money on, and how you choose to spend it, whether or not you allocate it towards housing people or paying people to harass those who are not housed. Those are choices you make. I see my time. Thank you.

[04:59:17] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Good a Camille?

[04:59:19] Alex Brown: God damn it, yield. Yield my time. That's that's the one.

[04:59:21] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. We'll go to Camille, your time is up anyway. So Camille, you're next. And please unmute yourself. There you go anyway. you

[04:59:41] Camille: Hi, thank you. Oh, I should be unmuted.

[04:59:45] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Yep, you're you're on. welcome. Camille, you are on. So if you'd like to start.

[04:59:56] Camille: Okay. Hi you. I should be unmuted.

[05:00:01] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: You're not, you're not.

[05:00:04] Camille: All right, um, wait, sorry. Sorry. Okay, um, so I saw that, uh, or I heard, uh, council member McAllister mentioned the cost of living as the reason for the increase. But if you actually look at the cost from 2 years ago, uh, you might notice that actually it's an increase in 20% if you look at um, the nut. Spending. And if you look at total expenditures. It's actually a 24% increase. I don't think that that is explained by cost of living. Um, Furthermore, I would also like to draw attention to, um, the $278,000 line item that is, um, added to this budget, uh, regarding a police officer position for community outreach, um, which is the goal of which is to improve the effectiveness of the police department's handling of community concerns and issues related to vulnerable populations, including the homeless and mentally ill. Um, I would like to point out, as many have before me, that perhaps the police department is not the best institution to be handling such problems. And in addition, it is very hard to imagine that a police officer would be the best person to be judging the effectiveness of the police department's handling. Thank you very much.

[05:01:36] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. Go to Rohin Ghosh, Rohin Ghosh. Please unmute yourself.

[05:01:45] Rohin Ghosh: Hey everybody, I would like to comment on a couple points that were made so far. I'm from the Mountain View coalition for police accountability and reform. So, 1st off, our demands are pretty simple. We want a 10% reduction in the police budget for the 2020 to 2021 fiscal year. And we want the previously demanded independent board, independent commission of residents of Mountain View, to determine what spending should be done with the police department. So let's take a look at what's actually being changed in the police budget. New patrol rifles. We are buying our police officers. New military grade weapons, weapons of war. Because apparently in Mountain View, California, police officers need 30 new assault rifles. We're buying them a drone to violate people's civil liberties, and they're being paid to tow RVs. So instead of actually caring about, you know, cost of living and actually helping the most vulnerable people in our community, we're increasing the police budget for them to harass and abuse the most vulnerable and needy people in our communities. This is honestly ridiculous. I mean, like, what are we trying to do here with this? I yield my time.

[05:03:15] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. We'll go to Danielle Cannon. And I think you're on.

[05:03:29] Danielle Cannon: Hi, can you hear me?

[05:03:31] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Yes.

[05:03:32] Danielle Cannon: Um, yeah, like others have said, uh, I think that the police budget, uh, nearing 13rd of our city's total budget is really egregious, especially given that their job is to, to go after crimes that have already been committed and their, their, their training is not in crime prevention. Um, time and again, we've seen study after study that equal access to quality education, uh, access to stable housing, access to healthcare, access to all of these things, is what promotes, uh, what prevents crime in communities. Um, and so I'm asking for the police budget to be cut by 10% and for that money to be reallocated to, uh, mental health and education and, uh, and housing. Um, others have mentioned, The piece of the budget that has to do with towing RVs, um, I, I just want to say that in no uncertain terms is that, an outrageous and horrifying thing to be doing, um, to be punishing the poor, for being poor, is outrageous, um, if we don't want poverty, then we shouldn't allow it. The time like that. Thank you.

[05:05:09] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Any other members of the public wishing to speak? Oh, yes, Ethan Hong? You should be, if you can unmute yourself.

[05:05:19] Ethan Hong: Hi, my name is Ethan Hong. I'm a Mountain View high student, and I just wanted to re-talk about the feel the operations idea again. So in 2018 to 2019, the actual fuel operations was 178 and 2017 to 2018 was actually 100 to 197 and the target set for 2019 to 20, 20 was 315 and the target for 2020 to 21 was 315. So it seems like there is an over estimation of the field operations, and this has once again led me to a question why we need to increase the budget by another $2000000 when we are drastically under the field budget target range, and instead there's severe need in our community to allocate this. For example, I'm in a tutoring club for low income students in Mound View Wisman district, and many of the families are struggling, especially with the COVID situation. They have found it hard to keep their kids entertained online, while also finding an opportunity for them to get work, and also to help provide for their families. And I know you guys are working hard on this, and it just seems to me that this money would be better well spent in our community, to those who especially need the money right now, to those who aren't even able to go to work, because they have to take care of their kids or just other people in need, in our community, and it would be greatly appreciated if we could reallocate these excessive targets towards people who actually need the funds. Thank you.

[05:06:54] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Well, go on to Johannes Menzel. Please rated uh, let's see. Now you can unmute yourself.

[05:07:04] Yannis Spencer: Hi, can you hear me?

[05:07:05] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Yes.

[05:07:06] Yannis Spencer: Hi, I'm Yannis Spencer. Um, I'm with the Silicon Valley chapter of the Democratic Socialist of America. Um, I recognize that a lot of work has gone into this budget. A lot of work has gone, you know, just in general, into making it seem reasonable to have armed white supremacist gangs, patrol of the streets. Some of you even take their campaign contributions. Um, you know, I think it might make sense to rethink what the city is doing. You know, um, almost $50000000 is a lot of money. Maybe it could be spent on things like public housing. Again, some of you are already aware that there's a housing crisis in the Bay Area and a mountain view. Um, Yeah, um, Earlier, the police chief, uh, compared, um, anti-police sentiment uh, to racism, uh, perhaps suggesting that it's as bad as racism. He compared patrolling Mountain View to Vietnam, you know, during the Vietnam War. Um, victim mentality, says it all here, um, a cab driver is more likely to be killed in the job than police. So I don't know where that's coming from. I yield my time.

[05:08:25] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Next, we'll go to Jure. Please unmute yourself.

[05:08:31] Jure: I, um, I want to acknowledge that. It's a very kind of difficult time to live in the Bay Area. It's a different a difficult time to be a police officer in the Bay Area. Um, but I want to say that the cost of living is increasing for all of us, right? Including the poor, including people who live in RVs. It seems like our priorities, our little bit out of work when 30% of our city's budget can go to policing. And so much less than that can go to housing people who are having trouble finding housing. Um, That's really all I want to say. I, I, don't understand how we can increase the budget by 5% to fund things like buying a police officer, new assault rifles, buying a drone. Especially given how safe our city is, especially given that leave. Not our police officers haven't had to use force in the city. in a while. Um, and yes, I would just like to see that funding. I would go to helping our more vulnerable citizens who are also facing hard times, even everything that's going on. Thank you.

[05:09:45] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Uh, I don't see any more hands, so I will close, actually, uh, City Clerk. Do we have other public comics?

[05:09:54] City Clerk: Mayor, we actually have about 160 emails that came in after 5 PM. That I will read into the record. Um, there are about 60 emails that are, um, very similar in nature. The only difference is the sender, so I will combine those together. Um, but I was going to start and read them as much as possible in chronicle chronological work starting at 5 PM. If you'd like me to proceed now.

[05:10:24] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Yes, please.

[05:10:27] City Clerk: I will go ahead and set the, if, if, um, uh, some of the emails are quite long instead of timers, if they were speaking, if that works.

[05:10:38] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: All right, thank you.

[05:10:40] City Clerk: Um, this emails from, um, Steve Chandler. Please consider defunding the Mountain View Police Department. I completely agree with defunding police departments. It's no different from the global argument that economies are healthier when you invest in services over military. Our cities would be better with community mediators and higher quality, better funded safety net program. Now is the time to deprioritize a system based on punitive relationships. I demand that Mountain View reallocates its police by this 2020, 2021 physical budget to community services that have always lacked funding. The fact that MVPD receives over $42000000 of the city's general operating fund is excessive and counterproductive. Please note these horrible facts about the Mountain View police. MVPD reports show that you are 5 times more likely to get stopped on VPD if you are black than if you're a white. Black residents are 9.2 times more likely to be arrested, and BPD fail to solve 40% of violent crimes and 90% of property crimes in 20. MVPD rolled in favor of police officers for all personnel complaints in 2018. MVPD's emphasis on community policing in place, the already bloated police budget and diverts life affirming resources from residents. Next year's budget only provides development with $18 million. Research shows that community is just an expensive attempt or and does little to reduce crime or police violence. Journal of experimental criminology. It's from Kylie to Mountview City Council members. My name is Kylie Rucker. I grew up in Los Altos and attended Mountain View High School. Growing up in my MVLA district. I was extremely sheltered from so much of our nation's pain and struggling. It was not until my year of high. I started volunteering to tutor students deemed at risk at crediting middle school. That I truly saw Gerald's people not only across the nation live in, but in our own district. Week that week, I would experience one or 2 kids expressed in various ways that they don't know why they're trying. It's not like they're going to go anywhere anyways. These were 12 and 13 year olds and they bought the new future. They could not fathom living a different life than what they have seen in their underserved communities. Imagine being more than what they told time and that they were at risk. Fast forward 5 years when I was driving a coworker home after a late night at work. We were having a great conversation when all of a sudden he stopped and said he was so sorry. He was sorry because he just saw a cop that we were probably going to get pulled over. I was utterly confused because. I was utterly confused and I am aware that the fusion is a manifestation of my privilege. My coworker, my explain, that he lives on a busy street in Los Altos, and he has lost count of how many times he's been pulled over, usually at night by a police officer from MVPD or LAPD for something beyond benign, such as one of the 5 life on his tail end properly. He knows the cops know, and I know that they pulled him over because they did not think that he lived there.

[05:13:52] Councilmember John McAlister: Katie Clark, can I ask you a question please? How many emails did you say you were gonna read tonight?

[05:13:59] City Clerk: There are 160 that have come in after 5 PM up until about 30 minutes ago.

[05:14:06] Councilmember John McAlister: So was it your intent to read all 160 of them?

[05:14:10] City Clerk: There are about 60 of the emails that are very similar in nature, so I was going to read one of them. They're actually very exact. The difference just being the sender. I was going to read the name of the sender and one of the emails for those. And then I was going to read the others that are different, um, one by one for up to the one. 5 minutes

[05:14:32] Councilmember John McAlister: So may I just have a quick suggestion that once, the city clerk reads all those that I would like to consider a continuation of the other items as the night progresses, because it's going to take us a long time and I don't think we would give us an opportunity to digest what we heard tonight.

[05:14:54] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: So you, are you, um, Suggesting we table items?

[05:15:02] Councilmember John McAlister: Here. 71 and 81. So we still have 6.2 and then...

[05:15:16] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: 81? So I'll lose the items.

[05:15:21] Unknown Speaker: Sorry to jump in. I was going to ask if Christian's still there. I was going to ask if, if we can move to, to sensor the reading, but have the email, uh, form weight entered into the record or if they actually need to be read. Um, I know in, in some jurisdictions, they, they just have the, have them entered into the record, but not read, and so I didn't know if we can make a motion better vector, or if we do need to, to read the, the unique one.

[05:15:48] City Attorney Krishan Chopra: Uh, this, this situation isn't addressed exactly by the Brown Act, because we're operating under the, under the governor's order from March, and that does require, uh, a means by which the public can provide public comment. We have published the agenda, which has the, the, the rule, the procedure that the, And I think there is some latitude to enter identical emails into the record, but the inked public comment, under these circumstances, we should probably allow the distinct public comment to be heard, because we've published the agenda that way and advise the public that that's how public comment is going to be received for this meeting.

[05:16:46] Unknown Speaker: Understood. Okay, I just wanted to check.

[05:16:52] Councilmember John McAlister: Well, mayor, is it possible that we can continue 6.one and then move forward with the other ones? 6.26 point 7.one and 8.one

[05:17:08] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: So you want to continue those 3 items to the next meeting?

[05:17:12] Councilmember John McAlister: Well, no, let's say we, we, we continue, do we have to complete 6.one right now. Is it possible that we can continue that one and proceed at 6.2 7.one and 8.one?

[05:17:24] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: I'm going to ask the attorney to help me on that.

[05:17:29] City Attorney Krishan Chopra: Yes, any, uh, I don't know the timing sensitivity of the budget and just so I'm clear, is Council member McAllister's desire to continue the present budget item? I'm just trying to, I'm just trying to get a sense of the timing. Yes, you can continue, a majority of the council could continue any any item on the agenda, and even if you're halfway through it, such as this item. So, uh, but I don't know the sensitivity timing wise, uh, from the finance and administrative services department, if the budget, uh, needs to go or needs to be heard tonight. But the answer is yes, you can continue this item and leave the, uh, public, you leave where you left off, so to speak, uh, continue it and then, uh, to a future meeting and pick up where you left off and then, Move to another item on the agenda. That's certainly the council's pleasure if a majority wants to do that, but I wanted to check if there's timing sensitivity to the budget adoption process.

[05:18:41] Unknown Speaker: So tonight is a public hearing and I believe we are supposed to adopt the budget on the next meeting on the 23rd. So my question would be, are we able to combine that or do we then have to delay for another week, adoption.

[05:19:01] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you, go ahead.

[05:19:03] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: Sorry, I was just gonna say that. I think that we can bring it back on the 23rd. Um, so tonight was to have this public hearing and accept public comment and for council to just provide any input to us on the budget. So you could do that on the 23rd and then we could, um, adopt the rest of the recommendations on the 23rd. And I think if we needed to, we could bring it back, um, on the 30th as well, but I would ask Jesse to to weigh in on that, but I think we can continue it on the 23rd and still adopt it on the 23rd as well.

[05:19:41] Jesse: Yes, thank you. I was just going to say it becomes more of a logistical issue of incorporating any council direction that there might be, um, in light of the fact that we, you know, didn't have a chance to go through and do a narrative budget. This is really kind of the council's 1st look at, uh, the proposals. Um, so bringing them back and and, and we could. We only are subject to having one public hearing, but we do also have an obligation to pass an adopted budget prior to the beginning or by the end of the fiscal year. So um, we could have a special meeting if it would extend beyond the 23rd. Um, But, you know, not knowing exactly how things have been going. This has not been the most stable period of time for a number of reasons. So, um, you know, there there's a possibility things could could happen and we could be pressed up against a deadline to adopt a budget without, you know, special action.

[05:20:44] Unknown Speaker: Oh, um, on that, because of the situation being so fluid, uh, would, is a plan for us to revisit the budget, um, in the fall, for instance, um, so whatever we adopt at the end of, uh, by June 30th, that is subject to change, if, depending on the economic situation, is that? Is that right?

[05:21:11] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: Um, so, mayor, I would just say, um, we do have 2 more meetings scheduled. So we already have a meeting on the 23rd where the budget would be adopted and we have a meeting on the 30th. So, I do believe we could adopt the budget before the July 1st deadline and it is the intention because it is a status quo budget, um, other than those limited period items. It is the intention that this is the budget. And then once we bring the quarterly updates to council, then at that time, that is when we might make any modifications, but, um, this is the intention to adopt this budget. And this is what would be carried forward into next fiscal year, but you do have 2 other opportunities this month.

[05:21:55] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Thank you. So, um, in that case, uh, Council member Clark, did you want to make some motion? I'm assuming we need to make a motion to continue?

[05:22:07] Councilmember Chris Clark: It wasn't a motion. It was a suggestion and a question and then it could lead to emotion. So, I think if we're gonna, My preference would actually be to finish the public comment on this and, um, And then if we need to continue it to a time and date certain, if we don't have to go back through that public comment period again. Um, not that we, and we could decide at that point whether to take, um, how we handle that. Um, We, we could do that. That way the timeline doesn't get too messy for the budget. And then the only other thing I was going to notice. I don't know if the, the zoning text amendments because they're meant to comply with state law. They have a 2nd reading. I didn't know if they need to go into effect before July one if there's some like state mandate there, that we need to abide by them because there's a 2nd reading, there's a. There's a time crunch, but and then the, and then submitting something for the ballot. I dont know if there's a time crunch for that too. I think the state, citywide school strategy. Obviously we can adopt. On our own timeline, but I just didn't know if that had thoughts on the other 2 items if, if those, you have some significant deadline that we need to meet for, for state or for county requirements.

[05:23:28] City Manager Kimbra McCarthy: I could speak to the, um, the planning community permit, part of the zoning text amendments, that does not need to, that there's not an urgency on that. It's something we want to clean up. I would defer to uh, planning uh, community development on the family daycare portion of that. I don't know if that has urgency. I think so, but I want to check.

[05:23:55] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: So maybe what we could do is, um, just for the sake of those on the call, we're waiting for like the citywide school strategy and, um, the zoning text events, maybe we could set the expectation that we'll, we'll likely continue those after we finish the, the budget item and then, if there's anything else we need to defense, so we can just censor, um, tonight, but. But I don't know where my colleagues are on, on sort of finishing the public comment on the public, on the budget and then continuing it or how they, how we want to proceed there. I have a few other comments that comes from Ramirez.

[05:24:32] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: Uh, thank you. So, I, uh, that, that was my question too, about, uh, if we don't finish comment today or this morning, then will we have to open up comment again and allow new speakers, if, if we, if we kick this out to another day? City attorney, will you?

[05:25:01] City Attorney Krishan Chopra: Yeah, yes, the, uh, uh, the brown knife requires every, uh, agendaized, uh, item to require public comments. So, if the public comment is not, uh, you know, finished uh, tonight. Uh, then, then new public comment would have to be taken. Uh, I believe we could uh, either receive all public comment tonight, and then you would uh, open the, close public comment, then open the public hearing and then immediately continue the, the council deliberation of the item, and then you wouldn't uh, have public comment at the next meeting, or you could continue the item. And uh, where it is now and then resume with, um, new public comment, if you will, on on the next hearing.

[05:26:08] Councilmember Lucas Ramirez: So if we take all the public comment tonight, then we can continue the item and go right into deliberation at the next meeting.

[05:26:17] City Attorney Krishan Chopra: Yes.

[05:26:18] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Yeah. All right, counselor Hicks.

[05:26:27] Councilmember Alison Hicks: Sorry. So maybe this was already covered. Don't we have to do 7.one, which is or is there a time? Isn't there a timing issue on that? The, um, The rent, California apartment association, rent control.

[05:26:43] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Um, thank you, cast number. Hex, me, um, we do have another uh, regular meeting, which is June 23rd and um, before which we could uh, do it on that on that evening. Uh, Councilman Manachek.

[05:27:01] Councilmember Lisa Matichak: Thank you Um, I would actually prefer to just finish the item we're on tonight and not continue it and then just continue um, 6.2 on. Um, you know, we've had a lot of folks, um, email us and uh, show up for this meeting. And, um, I think it's important to finish this topic tonight. Um, rather than continue it. And since so many people have, you know, dedicated time to it tonight.

[05:27:34] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Okay. Any other comments? So, um, why don't I just take a straw vote and, um, those of you who would like to take public comment this evening and then continue the item to a later date, please raise your hand. Let me just see, cancel number Hicks. Is that right? Right. So then, um, the plan is to finish this item and table the other items, is that what the other recommendation was? So those who are in favor of that, could I see a show of hands? That way we can let those who are waiting for the items. As long as 6.2 doesn't need to be adopted tonight, that was the only pending question. Okay. So, oh, yes. I'm sorry. I want to see if RT is still on the phone or Britney from planning. I just want to double check on the family daycare. I don't think that's critical, but I would like to double check.

[05:28:43] Community Development Director Randy Tsuda: Um, our T-shirt Vastoval, community development director. It is not a critical item for tonight. So it could be continued.

[05:28:50] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Okay, thank you. Okay, so the um, plan is to finish this item and then table the remaining items to the next meeting. So with that, um, City Click, would you mind uh, resuming, the reading of public comments?

[05:29:07] City Clerk: Yes, thank you, mayor.

[05:29:09] Unknown Speaker: Actually, if I can just confirm, um, with the city attorney, did we need to, so I, or actually, can I, we are continuing the other remaining items to June 23rd? I just wanted for purposes of. Clarity. I just want to make sure that that's the date certain that is for all of the items that are to be continued.

[05:29:31] City Attorney Krishan Chopra: Yes, there would be room, for example, on 6.2 to continue it to 2.30th. I heard flexibility there. Uh, and so it doesn't have to be all on the 23rd if if we want to decide and uh, if some items go on the 30th, that's also possible.

[05:29:51] City Clerk: Okay, thank you. We'll proceed with a comment. The next, um, the next email is from Emma. Let me share my screen. For the speaker. All right, this is from Emma Ambler. My name is Emma and I'm a recent college grad in Mountain View resident. Please, please listen to the calls of the citizens of Mountain View. Minneapolis has already voted to disband their police force, a monumental decision that will revolutionize how their city ensures public safety. The ask is not even too deep on the Mountain View is simply not increased their budget. This is an extremely minimal ask in its importance. Please take this incredibly important step in the right direction and redraw the budget so that a 3rd of Mountain View's budget isn't going toward the harmful program using. And remember, political model, especially white political moderates, hated Martin Luther King Jr. His actions were viewed as dangerous and radical. Allow your minds and hearts to be open to new ideas during this pivotal moment in history. Martin Luther King was on the right side of history. People who were afraid of political and structural change were not. No, the following is part of the collective action of email. So please read this portion of the email to the end. To add 2 Mountain View council members. My name is Emma, I'm a resident view in the context of this past decade's protest, I'm demanding that Mountain View reality spending in its 2020, 2021 fiscal budget to community services that have always lacked support. The FBPD receives over 420000 of the city's general operating fund is extensive and counterproductive. This is almost a 3rd of our city's budget while community development receives one. 18 million. Moreover, I'm horrified by the following facts. Right, time is up. This is from Jenny Kim to my accounts members. My name is Jenny Kim and I'm a resident of Mountain View. In the context of the past week, since kids protests, I'm demanding that Mountain View reallocates its police funding in its 2020, 2021 fiscal budget to community services that have always lacked support. The fact that the MVPD receives over $42000000 of the city's general operating fund is excessive and counterproductive. This is almost a 3rd of our city's budget while community development receives one.8 million. Moreover, I am horrified by the following. One MVPD reports show that you are 5 times more likely to get stopped by if you stopped by, if you are black, then if you are white. Black residents are 9.2 times more likely to be a red. MVPD failed to solve 40% of violent crimes and 90% of property crimes is 18. MVPD ruled in favor of police officers for all personnel complaints in 2018. We need a city where issues like houselessness and mental health crises are responded to and with trained social workers, not police officers with handcuffs, guns, and tasers. For larger cities, have far larger cities have implemented successful 1st responder systems that have cost far less than the MVPDs proposed $2000000 increase. Portland's pilot program costs $500,000 and Eugene's program saves $8000000 every year. The current proposed budget will increase police funding by 5.one%. Please do not let this happen. Please reallocate our police funds into community services that have always faced. The next email is from Naveen V Murray. I am a concerned citizen in resident Mountain View. I'm writing regarding the city's proposed budget for fiscal year 2021. I believe that our city allocates money toward policing and doesn't get anywhere. You know, the return, then what would expect them that sort of spending. For example, the Mountain View police department field to solve 40% of violent crimes than 90% of property crimes in 2018. This is the poor performance, especially the more than $40000000 per year given to the MVPD. More important than simple ineffectiveness, the nationwide movement of the day is exposing the biases inherent in our current system of policing, even in Mountain View, where so far we have avoided violent incidents, or at least recorded incidents, the statistics that we have reveal clear bias. Black residents are 5 times more likely, to be stopped by the MVPD and 9.2 times more likely to be arrested. And like so many police departments across the country, the Mountain View Police Department seems to have no meaningful oversight. All personnel complaints in 2018 were ruled in favor of by police officers, MVPD itself. So in summary, we spend a huge amount of taxpayer money for ineffective police work, biased application of power, and no oversight. I would prefer that more of those funds were allocated to social programs such as education, community health initiatives, and building a full housing. These categories of programs are positive influences in a community. Inherently, any police force's primary function is punitive, not supportive. Next email is from Mary is from Mary. I'm a resident, Mount View, and I'm commenting on item 6.one for today's meeting on behalf of me and my, for the 2020, 2021 budget. Please proactively divert more funding of the MVPD and focus funding on one community services, a lot more funding to community services, e.g. COVID-19, aid, our local CSACares.org caseworkers, public works, E.G. bike lanes, more sanitation at public areas like libraries, public transit due to COVID-19, composting. Examples for LA, people's budget, LA.com, and New York City changed the NYP.org slash issue for more information to programs to end police brutality, specifically demilitarize, and do not find military level equipment. Divert these funding towards preventive, excuse me. The birth of preventative measures. Training police officers and Mountain View employees, bias training, de-escalation techniques, follow the 10 recommendations in www.joincampaignzero.org. For accountability. The current MVPD guidelines page should have more clarity on accountability policies for police officers employed. Divert funds to our independent investigations and give residents a way to report misconduct. See those points in the campaign 0 link above. The next email is from Yelena. My name is Yelena Tao, and I'm a resident of Palo Alto and a student in the MVLA school district. In the context of the past weeks and decades protests against police violence, I'm demanding that Mountain View allocates its police funding in its 2020, 2021 fiscal budget to community services that have always left. The fact that BPD received over $42000000 of the city, general operating fund is excessive and cash or productive, because it's almost a 3rd of our city's feather budget. Furthermore, I'm horrified by the following facts. One MVPD report show that you are 5 times more likely to get stopped by the MVPD. If you are black, then if you are white. Black residents are 9.2 times more likely to be arrested. Two, MVPD failed to solve 40% of violent crimes and 90% of property crimes in 2018. Three MVPD ruled in favor of police officers for all personnel complaints in 2018. MVPD's emphasis on community policing in place, the already bloated police budget that diverts life affirming resources from residents. Next year's budget only provides community development with $18 million. Research shows that community policing is just as expense and just an expensive temp at PR does little to reduce crime or police violence. Journal of experimental criminology. We need a city where homelessness, mental health crises, and other social issues are responded to with trained social workers, not police officers with handcuffs, guns, and tasers. Many of my friends impacted by these issues. The next email is from Colin. Uh, Fritzing. My name is Colin Fritzi, and I'm a resident of Mountain View, as part of my research into the urban Seattle while studying transportation and the impacts of transit, community spaces, and community driven publicity. Our times we refer to as the maximum influence. These are the times when the system, regardless of whether those who use it feel it is successful or not, must change in order to meet our new demands of the community. If we were to start fresh with the budget that we currently have, the massive data, research and understanding that have been made in public safety and community development. Ask yourself how you would build that program from, how would you find funds? Fund services in that program, knowing what problems face our city today. In my secondary school education, we're in the MBLA school district, we have the opportunity to research the school to prison pipeline. We have the data to show MVPD is kind of likely to stop a black person than a white one. Black residents are 9.2 times more likely to be arrested with MVPD ruling at Deborah police officers for all personnel complaints in 2018. I'm asking for you to take a step back to look at what our city would be and build a plan for how we can go from our current state to the ideal state with mental health professionals, to take on mental health crises, homelessness shelters to take people off the streets, community educators to upskill our citizens, and our police to enforce the law. How could this 5.one% increase in police funding be utilized to tackle these issues? These are baby steps we can take to put our money where our mouths are. The next email is from Megan Schmeizing. My name is Megan, I'm 2 years old and grew up in Mountain View. I'm writing to ask you, ask that you please do not increase the police budget, but instead some of those funds, put some of those funds into community resources that will improve the health, well-being, and lives of Mountain View residents as you were elected to do. $42000000 is an outrageous amount to spend on policing, giving the violence and destructive impact policing has on black and brown communities in particular. Now view is currently basing a housing crisis. I know that I myself, despite my entire family living in, again, being a graduate of the colleges cannot afford to live here. There is a lack of safe and reliable public transit. There are so many better ways to invest in this community than the way the budget is currently. mental health resources, affordable housing, and so much more. Please use your role as council members to advocate for the Mountain View residents, particularly community members of color. Thank you for your time. The next email is from Libby Katsiv. My name is Libby Katson, and I'm a resident of Mountain View. I have lived in Mountain.

[05:41:18] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: I think City Clinic. Lisa, I think that you've pros. Roger, are you still on? Is there a way to?

[05:41:34] Roger: Yeah, I'm gonna run upstairs. She cutting out for me also, so I'll go and check with her.

[05:41:39] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Yeah, cutting out and I think she froze. Alright. Thank you. Sorry, it was on mute. I see a couple of attendee box, so let me go back to that while we wait for the city clerk to come back. So I have Joe Cannon. Do you like to speak? Please unmute yourself. And I'm going to. Bye, guys.

[05:42:17] Joe Cannon: Uh, thanks for giving me some time. Uh I'm not sure if my time started.

[05:42:23] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Uh, yes, go ahead. I'm trying to get a timer up. So once I do, I'll show it to you, but go ahead, please.

[05:42:30] Joe Cannon: Okay, thank you very much. Uh, you guys have heard uh, a great deal of arguments. Um, tonight and I appreciate your endurance and I appreciate you guys sticking to uh, reading all these emails. Um, that's a lot. And I understand that that's a lot. I'm not sure which arguments and which statements you've agreed with or been compelled by. Um, but I know. that, They've all centered around the same kind of thing. Um, We might feel tired tonight. Um, but we're, we're not tired. Uh, these aren't the last emails that we're going to sign and and these aren't the last uh, meetings we're going to be a part of. These aren't the last times we're going to hear our voice. There's there's a terror going through the country. And, um, at the end of it, they're going to be people who heard their communities, and responded to it, and there are going to be people who didn't and were replaced by the qualified members of the movement. Um, just from an optics perspective, I hope you see how this will looks, how this budget looks. Um, and I hope you use that to affect your decision. I hope hearing the statistics that you've heard today. Um, you've understood how they look from our perspective. And you've had a sliver of, um, how they feel from our perspective. Um, independent of of what you believe this is this matters and and the conversation's not going away. Thank you,

[05:44:10] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: your time's set. Thank you very much. We'll go to Margaret Capete. And you should be on. Let me try to reset the timer. Hmm. Can you unmute yourself? Oh, did you try again? little trouble. You try immuting yourself again, Margaret? Mr. Jensen, can you help me? I can't seem to un ask her to unmute.

[05:45:11] Mr. Jensen: Uh, yeah, I'm checking her, um. Oh, hello, can you help? There you go. There you are.

[05:45:19] Margaret Capete: I had an email that I sent in and so I just wanted that to be right. I accidentally raised my hand.

[05:45:24] Mayor Margaret Abe-Koga: Okay, thank you. We will, um, I'm sure the city click will get to it. Thank you. Yeah, um, yeah, I will call the, uh, Lisa, the, say, say, Clair is gonna come down.

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